A Little Big Word
by believeitornotimamom
Summary: VIOLENCE FROM CH12. After 300 years of being on his own Jack has to get used to having a family, to being a Guardian. He also has to deal with these confusing feelings for Tooth. And just when he thinks that his feelings are his biggest problem, in the middle of fun and snowball fights, evil lurkes in the shadows, taking what Jack loves the most. Cover by Faleno
1. Beginning

**This is my first fic. I'm writting this for you guys. You've made me laugh and cry with your wonderful stories and I thought I could try to return the favor and contribute a story of my own. Hope you enjoy it!**

**I do not own the Guardians or Pitch, but the triplets and the princess song are all mine ;)**

**If fluff is not your thing, you can start reading from CH 12**

**Edited thanks to MikeXEmilyPRS who explained the meaning of fair dinkum to me. Thanks for stopping me from making a fool out of myself :D**

* * *

"So, here we are!" North said in his thick Russian accent.

Jack reluctantly opened his eyes. In 300 years of existence -300 and some, as he has recently discovered- he had never felt this tired. Spirits don't really need that much sleep at all.

But these last few days have taken a toll on Jack, physically and emotionally. He got his first words of kindness, his first hug."Tooth" he thought as he smiled to himself. For the first time he felt wanted, accepted.

He got his first believer and then some. He found himself fighting against Pitch and almost loosing his life and his newly found friends. Thanks to Tooth he had discovered that he existed before Jack Frost, that he had a family, that he had been loved.

300 years alone and confused when all he ever had to do was to find Tooth. Tooth... He could barely believe all the attention he was getting from the beautiful... "Wait! Beautiful?" Tooth seemed to keep creeping on his thoughts that day. Speaking of which...

Jack realized something heavy was lying on his shoulder: Tooth's feathery head. She was fast asleep and Jack's arm was around her. He realized he was a bit dizzy, almost intoxicated by her smell of summer flowers and honey and a bit too warm from the proximity of her body. Maybe that's why he'd been thinking about her so much.

He slowly ran his fingers through the feathers on her arm amazed at how soft she was, smiling as his cold touch left goosebumps on her skin.

"Tooth" he said, looking at her. "Wake up, we're already at the Pole"

Tooth opened her eyes slowly. It took her a couple of seconds to realize where she was, but when she did she jerked away, blushing deeply at their sudden proximity.

Jack let out a chuckle, waking up Sandy, who was sleeping next to Tooth.

"S-sorry" she said softly.

"It's OK, we're all exhausted today" said Jack with a dazzling crooked smile.

Sandy got down from the sleigh and went to stand next to Bunny, who looked like he was going to be sick.

Jack got down from the sleigh as well and instinctively stretched his hand out to help Tooth. She realized it was silly because she could fly, but she still took his hand. After all, who could resist Jack's hand outstretched while he smiled with those pearly white teeth... "Tooth, Tooth, Tooth! You're a Guardian, not a fan girl! Keep it together!" she thought.

North, who had been talking to one of his yetis, turned around with a smile.

"Dinner will be served soon, we best wait inside, get comfortable. We'll have some eggnog, no?" He said and he started walking inside, signaling the others to follow.

"I won't say no to eggnog right now, mate" said Bunny, as the five Guardians walked inside Santa's workshop.

The Russian man led them to a cozy room, with big leather chairs and a huge fireplace. Jack, who was already warm from sleeping next to Tooth, was not impressed, but he didn't want to make the others uncomfortable. After all no one enjoys being cold. Except for him, that is. He watched Tooth seat close to the fire, probably freezing after sleeping next to him and his heart sank a little. Cold is all he could ever give her. "Where did that thought even come from?"

Sandy sat next to Jack and started making symbols over his head very quickly, too quickly for Jack to keep up, so he just kept smiling and nodding. He liked the little golden man, even if he couldn't understand him. And then everyone started talking about their recent adventure, about how Sandy came back in the nick of time, about how amazing Jack powers were and then, the Easter fiasco.

"But that forgotten now, no? Now we are a team" said North.

Jack opened his mouth to say something. He was still so embarrassed that he failed them. But Tooth spoke before he could.

"Actually we owe Jack an apology" She said, looking at the floor. "When my powers came back, so did my connection with the fairies. I saw Baby Tooth's memories".

Jack Gasped. "Tooth..."

She stared at him. "No Jack, Pitch tricked you, but even in your darkest hour you never betrayed us. Pitch wanted Jack to join him and Jack refused. He gave up his staff to save Baby Tooth. We owe you an apology, we should have never doubted you".

"If that's the case, Frostbite" Bunny said as he stood up and walked towards Jack, shaking his hand "it's only fair that we apologize, mate. Crikey, Snowflake! Aren't you supposed to be cold?" He asked, realizing Jack's hand was normal, not his usual cold.

Jack saw the opportunity to change the subject. "Are you worried about me Kangaroo? Aaaw, you _do_ care!

"For the last time" said Bunny, trying to appear angry although he really wasn't. "I am not a kangaroo, mate!"

Everyone chuckled, and then North spoke.

"Jack, I was thinking. Winter, Christmas... all go well together, no? You are Guardian now, you are family. You should come live here at the Pole with me! I would be honored. Besides, I could use some _cool _new design ideas for the toys, right?" North chuckled, obviously proud of his little joke.

Jack started feeling very dizzy all of the sudden, the warmth finally getting to him. "That's, ah, wow. That would be very nice" he said with a hint of doubt in his voice. "I think the Kangaroo is right, I better step outside for a moment" he said as he left the room.

Tooth and North both motioned to get up. They shared a glance. Tooth saw in North's face concern for the boy; he knew that these last three days had been overwhelming for Jack, for everyone, really. North saw in Tooth's eyes a worry that goes beyond friendship and a need to be alone with the winter spirit.

"You go and make sure he's OK" North said to Tooth, against his better judgement. He was a hopeless romantic, but he wasn't sure that Jack needed more complications in his life at that point.

* * *

**OK, I'll stop here so that this chapter is not too long and the next one too short. **


	2. Changes

**WOW! This is exciting! Thanks to my reviewers -I know it's just two, but I'm happy that at least someone read it :)-**

**Especially Guest. That was an awesome review. This chapter is for you. Hope you like it!**

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Tooth found Jack outside in the courtyard, leaning against his staff, eyes fixed on the moon. She went to stand next to him putting her arm around his waist with her hand inside the pocket of his hoodie. He didn't turn around to look at her.

"Is this OK?" She asked.

He put his hand on hers but didn't answer. It felt so good to be hugged after 300 years. His mind drifted towards that hug by the lake after defeating Pitch and he felt butterflies in his stomach. He's never felt anything like that in his life- he was sure something like _that_ would have been in his teeth!-but then, he wondered if the feeling was just social awkwardness from being alone for so long. Surely it couldn't have anything to do with Tooth.

"I'm sorry about making you hot" she said shyly.

Jack chuckled "I'm sorry about making _you_ cold!"

They both laughed and he squeezed her hand tighter without even realizing what he was doing. He thought the heat had made his brain a little fuzzy. When the laugh faded away, Tooth spoke again.

"So, what is this really about?" She asked inquisitive.

"What do you mean? The fire was just too warm for my liking"

"Good try Jack, but I can see right through you. Something is bothering you." She said, her magenta eyes piercing his blue ones. "You know North was being sincere, don't you? He's not doing this out of pity. I think he gets lonely and that's why he's always throwing parties."

He looked at her, surprised at how much she got to know him in such a short time.

"I don't know, Tooth. It's just that I've been alone for 300 years. Just me and the wind, you know?" He tried to smile, but Tooth could see the sadness in his eyes.

"About that... I'm so sorry, Jack. It's all my fault that you couldn't remember who you were all these years. I'm the Guardian of memories and I failed you" she said, looking down at the ground. "I just can't explain why I didn't sense that you needed your memories. That's why we collect them after all, to give them back to the owner when they need them most..."

"Tooth, this is not your fault at all! I was thinking about it and I think that maybe your powers didn't work because I was already... You know... Gone"

"Jack, what are you talking about?"

"You know... my memory. Baby Tooth was there..."

"Jack, Baby Tooth wasn't holding the box, she couldn't see your memory" Her eyes darkened as she understood what Jack was trying to tell her. " I thought it was a good memory. You seemed happy..."

"In a way it was a nice memory. I discovered that I had a family who loved me. It showed me my center, the reason why I'm a Guardian."

"What happened to you?"

"Oh, I can't re-tell that! I can show you, though" He said with a little smile. He let go of her hand and reached out for the little golden box inside his pocket. "Here"

Both hands, cold and warm touched the little box, as little pixels began to form an image. They saw a barefoot boy and a little girl on a frozen lake. They saw ice cracking under the girl's feet and Tooth let out a gasp, realizing what would happen next. They saw the relief in the boy's face as he pulled the little girl to safety. And then...

CRACK

Tooth turned to face Jack, tears dropping from her magenta eyes.

"I know..." he said, looking into her eyes "I used to have dark hair!". They both laughed.

"It's not so bad, really. It's just hard to come to terms with the fact that I'm, you know... dead".

Tooth stopped her wings and stood in front of him, hugging him tightly, her head against his chest. They remained like that for a few seconds, or minutes, they couldn't be sure. She heard a heartbeat, almost as fast as her hummingbird one.

"Just what I suspected" she said, pulling away to look at him. "A heartbeat. You are very much alive, Jack Frost".

He gave her a big smile, knowing she had realized how fast his heart was beating at her proximity "Stupid heart" he thought to himself.

"Soooo, about staying here with North..."

"What about it? I already agreed to it" He replied, but did not meet her eyes.

"C'mon Jack! We all could tell that you didn't sound too convinced. Do you prefer to be by yourself? I'm sure North will understand."

"It's not that. I'd be happy to live here. The yetis know that ever since I became Jack Frost I've been trying to break in here a couple of times a year!" He smiled. Tooth hoped for her sake that he stopped smiling at her like _that_ soon.

"I just" he continued "I've been on my own for so long and now all of the sudden you all are here, treating me like family... Like you love me..." He was staring straight into her eyes when he said it. The _L_ word. Tooth felt like she was going to melt right there. She realized what that feeling in her chest was. She knew that he kept talking, but she lost track of what he was saying for a moment, lost in her own thoughts.

"...and what if I get used to not being alone and you guys just disappear out of thin air, the same way you came?" He said it as a joke, but she saw in his eyes that deep down he was afraid to let his guard down.

Her hands involuntarily wrapped around his face and she looked straight into his deep blue eyes. "I'll always be here, no matter what".

"Cwackmamana" said Phil the Yeti, who was standing right behind them. Dinner was ready.

**Are we OK or is everybody getting cavities? Do we have a chapter or two fluff free -ok, 90% fluff free- or do I keep going? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Maybe Jack could have an adventure or two at Santa's workshop and shake North's hospitality...**


	3. Flustered

**Sorry I'm a bit late. I have a teething toddler ( I said I was a mom!). If you don't know what that means it means sleepless nights and horrible days with a very cranky and clingy kid who's too heavy for you to carry :p**

** Ironic, really that a tooth is stopping me from writing this ststory's his chapter has been edited because well, it was awful.**

* * *

Tooth and Jack entered the dinning room, still a little flustered by what had just happened.

Sandy looked at Jack and drew a mini image of the winter spirit over his head, followed by an ice-cube and a question mark. Jack grinned.

"I'm fine now, thank you Sandy"

"We can always open a window for you next time, mate" said Bunny, smiling warmly.

"What? No Frostbite or Snowflake? You really do care, Kangaroo!" said Jack with a grin. Tooth rolled her eyes "Here we go again" she thought, but just before the two Guardians could get into another argument, North interrupted.

"Glad you are feeling better, Jack. "

"North, thank you for your offer. I would love to stay here. Santa's workshop, are you kidding me?!" Said Jack, smiling. "Sorry if I wasn't as enthusiastic before, I was a bit dizzy" North gave him a knowing smile. He understood that Jack's life was changing too much too quickly for the young spirit to keep up.

"Good. The yetis have prepared a very cold storage room for you. The colder the better, no?"

"The colder the better" said Jack still smiling.

Dinner went by uneventfully except for the fact that Tooth avoided eye contact with both Jack and North. Jack was rather amused that she spent half the evening staring at him, but every time he turned around to meet her gaze she pretended to be really interested in her food, most of which was actually left untouched. She seemed to have been fighting some inner battle.

Tooth was scared to look at North. She knew he'd be able to read it on her face. The last thing she wanted was him questioning her about Jack and her feelings. She was also avoiding Jack's gaze because she was sure that her face would make the others realize that _something_ was happening. Yet, there he was, talking and joking and smiling that dazzling smile of his and despite her best efforts she couldn't stop looking at him.

"You are all welcome to stay the night. Bring in some eggnog, no?" Said North after dinner.

"Sorry North, but I really have to go home now. I need to make sure the girls are OK. We still have to categorize all the teeth you guys helped me collect and our job is 24 hours" Tooth said. Sandy nodded in agreement and the image of his island formed above his head. They all understood that he also had to go.

"Any other day I would've taken the offer North, you know I love Phil's brekkies but I really need to go back to the warren and do some damage control, mate" said Bunny.

Tooth said bye to Jack with a short but tight hug.

"I meant what I said" she whispered in his ear. She knew that he had noticed her strange behavior during dinner and she needed him to know that she cared.

Jack felt a sudden urge to hold her tight and don't let go but he controlled it.

"Are you sure you'll be OK by yourself? Maybe I could help you" he asked, as they broke the embrace. He really didn't want to be away from her now.

"I'll be ok" she said. She needed to be away from Jack to clear her head and make sense of it all. Besides, she doubted that she could concentrate in her job with him around.

* * *

The yetis took Jack to a big room at the back of North's house. It was simple but cozy with white walls, a glass nightstand and a white bed and dresser. Jack laughed out loud when he saw the blue blanket over the bed. There was a big window with spectacular views of the glaciers. Apart from the cold, it was hard to tell that this was a storage room, and Jack could almost see the yetis building the window and painting the room while the Guardians were having dinner.

Jack removed his hoodie and a single green feather flew out from it and landed on the bed. "Tooth" he thought smiling as he picked it up. The feather was shiny green with blue hues, and it was impregnated with her sweet smell of flower nectar. It made Jack think about that spot between her neck and her shoulder where he buried his face every time they hugged. That was an odd though. He put the feather on the nightstand to stop those strange thoughts on his head. He laid on the bed, more exhausted than he's ever been in his immortal existence. But for someone used to sleeping on the snow, the soft comfortable bed was actually uncomfortable and he kept tossing and turning, worrying about Tooth and her fairies and wondering how she was doing, until he finally fell asleep, dreaming of green feathers, summer flowers and magenta eyes staring right into his.

* * *

Tooth checked on each and everyone of her fairies. Some of them had minor injuries but they were otherwise OK. They had done a great job a collecting teeth during the few hours she was at North's.

"You girls were so brave, I'm really proud of you all" she said and an avalanche of mini fairies flew at her, kissing and cuddling her.

The palace was back to it's former glory, and except for the mountain of teeth out of place, everything was back to normal, as if Pitch's attack had never happened.

Tooth laid on her nest shaped bed but she couldn't sleep, she was nervously tossing and turning and she was hyperventilating a little. She still could feel goosebumps in her arm from his touch and all she could see when she closed her eyes was his pale face. She had never felt anything like that before. She was so old even she had lost track of her age, but for the first time in her life she was feeling like a very human teenage girl.

How could she be in love with him? Sure she's had a crush on him for the last 200 years or so. And then she met him and he was so sweet and considerate and funny and sexy. "Sexy? where did that even come from?" She started hyperventilating again.

"Tooth! Breathe in, breathe out" she said to herself. "Teeth, teeth, teeth! Eight incisors, four canines, eight premolars..."

And Tooth went back to doing what she does when she needs to clear her head: work.

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**sorry, I know it's not my best job but I'll make it up to you :)**


	4. Dream

**Sorry, sorry, sorry I'm late. Lack of sleep kills creativity. I wanted to write some North Pole shenanigans but I couldn't think of anything cool :( **

**I hope this is enough to make it up to you...**

**This chapter has been edited. Thanks to RJguzman318 for pointing out that Jack's cheeks wouldn't be red and hot when he blushes. Keep the feedback coming!**

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Her eyes. That's all Jack could see. Pink and purple hues were just slits next to the black of her dilated pupils. She was batting her impossibly long eyelashes, staring right into his eyes, longing, almost begging. It was like staring at the sun and Jack couldn't help but closing his eyes. His staff hand was on her back while his other hand was drawing the shape of her waist. He knew his touch was leaving behind goosebumps but she didn't seem to mind. He pulled her towards him, closing the gap between them. Her smell was clouding all of his senses. He could feel her warm breath as their faces grew closer, her soft hand on his cheeks. His lips parted...

Cling, cling, cling

Jack opened his eyes and saw the elf's face too close to his, causing him to jump. He had been dreaming. He had been dreaming about Tooth. "I really hope Sandy didn't see that one!" he thought to himself. He's never had a dream like _that_ before and he really wasn't sure whether he was angry or relieved now that he was awake.

While Jack was immersed in his own thoughts the elf put some clothes on the bed for him to wear: dark blue pants, a light blue fur cloak and pointy shoes. Jack laughed so hard he actually made it snow in his room. When the laugh faded, he put his hoodie back on and put the green feather from the nightstand in his pocket.

The elf was not happy, he kept pushing the shoes against Jack's body, jumping and pointing and making annoying noises with his hat. So Jack did what anyone else would have done: he froze the elf.

Jack found North in the workshop, inspecting the yetis' work.

"Hair is too curly. No, no I said green! That's... Actually a good job." North was throwing orders in all directions.

Oh, there you are, Jack!" North gave him a hard pat on the back "you had good night sleep, no?"

Jack felt his cheeks getting colder, and he assumed they were getting purple, blushed. But if North noticed, he pretended otherwise.

"Sorry to wake you but you already missed breakfast, I didn't want you to miss lunch too".

"That's OK. There may or may not be a frozen elf in my room, though."

"What did he do?" North chuckled.

"He tried to make me wear shoes..."

North chucked even louder and put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Hohoho, I will get yetis to check it out, they'll enjoy that" he said, still laughing. "So, not many cold days left, no? Do you have to be somewhere breaking some havoc?" asked North

"No, I think I'll let the Kangaroo have this spring in peace. "

"That's a great idea! He had a rough time this year" North said. "Lunch is not ready yet, I thought you would be harder to wake. We can take tour now, no?"

Jack had been dreaming about seeing the workshop all his life, he's even sure he used to dream about it as a human boy. But of course he kept his cool, he was Jack Frost after all.

"Yeah, I supposed we could do that" he said casually, but North could see his eyes bright with excitement.

The workshop was amazing. It was big, stretching as far as the eye could see and it consisted of several floors where different stages of toy designing and making occurred. North was explaining very seriously what every area was for and why it was so important to adhere to procedures and deadlines. But Jack had blocked out his voice a long time ago. All he could see was toys: wonderful airplanes flying around, teddy bears and dolls and racing cars. He could imagine the kid's faces when they saw them and all the fun they would have that Christmas.

"I don't like it, make them blond!" Said North to a yeti who had been working on a mountain of red haired dolls. "Tom, work faster" he said to another yeti. "Uhm, I think they would look better with three wheels" he said to another yeti working on hundreds of little motorcycles.

Jack started to feel bad for the yetis. North seemed to be rather mean to them and they worked so hard without having any fun... an idea formed in Jack's head. He created a little snowflake in his hand. He was about to blow it towards North, when he saw it: the tips of it looked exactly like little feathers. He thought about the feather in his pocket and felt a little annoyed that she seemed to be creeping in all his thoughts lately. He had just seen her last night and yet, he missed her.

"Don't even think about it, Jack. It would send us back weeks" North said menacing. But then he saw the shape of the snowflake on Jack's hand and his expression softened. "I think we better go eat. We'll have fun later, no?"

"OK" he mumbled.

Jack wasn't really used to eating that often. Spirits don't need that much food either and for 300 years Jack wondered around eating only when and if he found something appetizing he could eat.

They sat on the table and North stared at Jack for a moment.

"So... What happened last night?" He asked casually.

"Sorry about that, I was a bit overwhelmed about everything. I've been on my own for so long and this is a huge change" Jack said. That wasn't really what North was asking about, but he was glad that the boy had opened up to him, so he didn't push it.

"I understand, but it is good change, no?"

"Yeah, I guess so" Jack said smiling. " I wanted to ask you: why are you so... harsh with the yetis?"

"I just give everyone what they need Jack. You see the elves? I make them think that their work is very important, even when we know they're useless" North chuckled. "Yetis need to be challenged to be happy, they get bored when job is easy".

Jack nodded in agreement.

"The yetis have a break tomorrow morning, maybe we can have that snowfight then, no?"

* * *

Tooth finally collapsed in her bed, too tired to think, too tired to remember her dreams. All she remembers is being cold. And liking it.


	5. Thinking of you

**Hi all! We'll have** **that "snowfight" next chapter. I was missing writing some fluff. Btw criticism is more than welcome as well. If you think something is not quite right or a character is, well, out of character, please let me know!**

**I slightly edited this chapter, I wasn't happy with a couple of paragraphs and I fixed some grammatical mistakes. Sorry, it's hard to concentrate with a toddler running around. And Elmo gives the worse writer blocks ever :P**

* * *

After lunch, Jack went outside to be alone with the wind. For 300 years the wind was his only friend. He needed the comfort of it's murmur to clear his head from all this weird dreams and thoughts.

He would love to talk to someone, but the only person he felt comfortable talking to, was Tooth. And talking to Tooth about having weird dreams about her was definitely a bad idea. North, maybe? What if North got angry? What if Guardians were not supposed to feel these things? Even worse, what if North threw a party and told everyone that he had feelings for Tooth?

Jack flew with the wind, so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even know he was traveling through Asia. By the time he realized that the weather was getting warm, he could already see the Tooth Palace in the distance.

He froze. This was a bad idea; but he really wanted to see her so he got closer to the Palace. He could keep a safe distance and the night would hide him. Just a little glimpse and then he'd fly away. Surely there'd be no harm in that.

And sure enough, there she was, holding her clipboard and giving orders to her fairies. She was just so beautiful it was almost painful to look at her. Jack squeezed his fingers around the feather in his pocket, remembering how soft and warm she was.

She was obviously attracted to him, judging by all the attention she was giving him. But did she feel the same way? And even if she did... Did he really feel what he thought he was feeling? Or was he just overwhelmed by the whole situation, confused about getting too much attention from a pretty girl for the first time? He had to be sure before doing anything- not that he even knew what to do- because the last thing he wanted was to hurt the first person who had ever been there for him.

* * *

Tooth felt a sudden cold breeze and her heart skipped a beat. Could it be? She looked around, but she couldn't see his blue eyes staring at her. Her heart sank a little. She missed him more than she should. She wanted to go and see him, but there was so much work left to do. "Liar" she thought to herself. Truth be told, she was afraid to see him, she didn't think her fragile hummingbird heart could take it.

Clearly he never complained about her attentions, but he was so considerate he could have just be being polite and nothing else. She could tell he liked her touch, but maybe he was just craving physical contact after 300 years of solitude. Maybe he just needed kindness, but it wasn't necessarily about her.

She had been told by little girls that she was pretty, but she can't shake the memory of being hunted down like a freak because of her feathers. Was she really pretty? Pretty enough to attract_ Jack Frost_?

Her mind was as fast as her wings. Even if he did like her... Could he ever feel the same? He was a loner after all, so used to being on his own.

"... just me and the wind, you know?" His words resonated on her head.

Maybe she could never knock down the walls he had built, maybehejustsawherasafellowguardian, maybehethoughtshewasafreaktoo, maybehejokedaboutherwiththeelves... Tooth started hyperventilating again. She had been doing that often the last few days. "Tooth! Keep it together! You're a Guardian! A warrior! Stop acting like a 15-year-old!" she thought to herself, regaining some composure. She looked at her clipboard and continued working.

* * *

Jack was planing to go back to the Pole but he decided to visit Jamie on his way back. His first believer. Jamie would never know how special he was to him.

He looked through Jamie's window to see the kid reading a book with his flashlight, obviously supposed to be asleep by now. He knocked on the window.

"Jack! You came back! This is so cool!" said Jamie excited.

"Of course I did, Kiddo!" said Jack grinning while Jamie let him in.

Jack entered the room and got a big hug from the kid. If only Jamie knew how much his hugs meant to him, how long he waited to be noticed, to be believed in, how eternally grateful Jack was to Jamie.

"So... What are you reading?" asked Jack

"A book about you" Jamie replied.

"Have you learned anything interesting?" Jack asked smiling. He knew about those incredible inaccurate Jack Frost stories.

"Umm... According to this, you should be an old man with a beard. You go around with a bucket and a paintbrush painting autumn leaves" said Jamie.

"Sounds extremely boring" laughed Jack.

"I did learn that you have feelings for Tooth, though..." said Jaime mischievously.

"What?! How?! Where does it say that? Jack panicked, he grabbed the book from the bed and started flipping through pages.

"In your face right now" Jamie laughed.

"Very funny" said Jack.

"You do know there's a green feather sticking out of your pocket, don't you?" Said Jamie with a smile surprisingly similar to Jack's when he's up to no good. "So, you either had an encounter with a certain fairy or you met a very big bird" he chucked.

"Aren't you like eight years old or something?" Jack asked, amazed at how clever this kid was.

"I'm almost nine" said Jaime proud.

"Well, that explains" said Jack smiling.

"So, are you like her boyfriend now? He asked, wide-eyed.

"No, nothing like that" Jack looked at the floor "she doesn't know..."

"You should tell her!" said Jamie excited.

"OK, let's say I tell her and she doesn't feel the same..."

"Awkward" said Jaime after a moment.

"Exactly" said Jack. "Now to the real reason I'm here: North is organizing a snowball fight at the North Pole and I kind of need a team, because he'll have the yetis and I really don't want to have to face North _and_ the yetis alone with the elves, they're kind of dumb, you know. Anyway I was wondering if you and your friends would like to join me..."

"SNOWBALL FIGHT! AT THE NORTH POLE! _WITH SANTA_!" Jamie was jumping on the bed and touching his head.

"I'll take that as a yes" Jack chuckled


	6. In your arms

**I'm hopeless! I want to write "snowfight" and I write fluff. Sorry about the bit of angst at the beginning, that just happened. Next chapter definitely snowfight" it's all set up now :)**

* * *

Jack stayed in Burgess that night. It was nice being alone with the wind. "Old habits die hard" he thought to himself. Not that having an actual home and a comfortable bed was a bad thing, it just was unnatural for him, as if he was living someone else's life.

He was up on a tree branch looking down at his lake. It was always beautiful at night, when the moonlight caressed its surface. The lake had a new meaning to Jack now that he had seen his memories. It was his end and his beginning and it had a bittersweet feel to it that it never had before.

He noticed the moon suddenly shinning brighter upon the lake.

"I'm still angry at you!" said Jack, looking at the moon. "You could have told me to find Tooth and get my memories. You created me and left me hanging for 300 years until _you needed_ me!"

The winter spirit could see how he was a Guardian and he had always been. He seemed to fit in with his new friends... and Tooth... He could have had 300 years of her by now.

"300 years is a long time to be alone, you know?" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

The wind blew strong and a blizzard started forming around the lake. The moon just kept shinning it's bright light, illuminating Jack's contorted face.

"For 300 years I kept wondering what I was doing wrong." Said Jack, holding back tears. The moon said nothing.

Jack came down from the tree and stood on the lake. Spring had melted the ice, but the water froze again under his feet in beautiful icy patterns. He remembered that first day when he became Jack Frost. He touched a tree with the tip of his staff and created more beautiful frost patterns that grew upward on the tree trunk.

His eyes lingered on his staff. He had used it so long ago to save his sister. In a way, it was the only thing he had to remember her. He could see in his memories that he had loved her so much and he wondered what became of her, hoping she lived a long, happy life, but unable to know for sure.

Jack looked up and his heart froze. Snow stopped falling over the lake. He saw a flicker of green in the distance, flying at top speed towards him. "Is that her?" He though hopeful. He really needed her kindness at that moment.

* * *

Back at the Tooth Palace, the Tooth Fairy was busy working as usual.

"Penelope just lost her first molar! Isn't it adorable?" She said showing her fairies the tooth in her hands. Then her expression changed. "Don't even think about it!" She said, menacingly. "Come back home right now with those teeth, it's an order!"

* * *

"Baby Tooth!" Jack couldn't say he was disappointed to see the little fairy. He missed her too, and in a way being with Baby Tooth made him feel closer to Tooth herself.

He stretched out his hand for her to stand on his index finger, but she flew straight to his face, rubbing her little body against his cheek. She chirped happily and went to stand on his neck.

"Get down from there, Baby Tooth!" Tooth voice said inside of Baby Tooth's head.

"I missed you too, little Baby Tooth. It's great to see you! Were you collecting teeth in Burgess?" He asked.

She looked down and pat the little brown bag around her waist.

Tooth lost herself for a moment in Baby Tooth's thoughts. He was just so beautiful. That deep, yet young and sweet voice, his perfect white teeth and those ice blue eyes...

"Is he OK?" Asked Tooth inside the little fairy's head, noticing that Jack's eyes were not its usual bright.

Baby Tooth touched his face with her tiny hands and lifted up her shoulders.

"Oh, I'm fine, it's nothing. Just talking to MiM. He's not talking back, as always" he said, looking at the moon angrily.

Baby Tooth hugged his neck to comfort him.

Tooth felt a surge of guilt rushing over her. She was failing Jack again. She promised she'll always be there for him and now that he needed her she was hiding like a coward. But she couldn't just show up now, could she? She didn't want him to think that she was spying on him. Yet, it was no secret that she could see Baby Tooth's thoughts, she herself had told him so.

Without noticing she was flying away from her palace towards Burguess.

Jack was sitting on the lake, caressing Baby Tooth's neck when he felt a soft and warm hand on his back. His heart started racing as the sweet smell of summer flowers and honey told him exactly who was standing behind him.

He turned around to see her magenta eyes filled with concern for him and he wrapped her in a tight hug. Tears menaced to drop from his eyes. He felt emotionally drained, confused about his feelings for her; angry at the moon for 300 years of pain; overwhelmed with happiness at having kids see him and having a home at North's. It was all too much for the young spirit. He buried his face on that spot between her neck and her shoulders and he let the tears drop as she held him tight. She didn't say anything and she didn't have to. Just being in her arms was enough.

They remained like that for a very long time, long after his tears stopped, long after the moon gave way to the sun, until finally Jack pulled away to look at her. She really was beautiful.

"Thank you" he said, he was staring straight into her eyes. He didn't intend to, he just couldn't help himself.

"I didn't do anything" she said in her sweet voice, smiling.

"You're here" said Jack, running his fingers through her arm. She was so soft he couldn't stop himself.

She ruffled her feathers, staring at him, trying to understand what was going on. Could he have feelings for her?

"Tooth you're as cold as I am! I'm so sorry. Are you OK?" He said concerned, stepping away from her.

"I'm fine" she said beaming. in all honesty his touch made her so warm inside that she didn't even feel cold. In fact, she had never been more comfortable in her life.

"Hurry up guys, we don't wanna be late." Jack and Tooth could hear Jamie's voice in the distance.

"This is gonna be so cool!" said Caleb.

"You better not be lying about this, Jamie!" said Pippa.

"The kids are coming" said Tooth stressed.

"Yeah, I told them to meet me here" said Jack. "Hey Kiddo, how are you? You guys are early"

"Wow! It was true!" said Claude.

"And the Tooth Fairy is coming to!" said Cupcake excited.

"Hi. Yey!" said Tooth in a very high pitched voice, waving at the kids. She turned to Jack and asked between her teeth "Where are we going?"

"To the Pole, of course. We have a snowball fight with North and the yetis" he said grinning.

"Does North know about this?" she asked.

"Nope. It's called the element of surprise"

"Oh, he will be surprised... I don't think this is a good ide..." said Tooth, just before a blue snowflake hit her face.

"So... Are you coming or not?" Jack gave her the most heart melting smile he had.

"Of course! Sounds like fun!" she said throwing herself into his arms.

Jamie's mouth fell open.

"Snowflake" said Jack, and the kid understood what had just happened.

"So, do you have a portal?" asked Tooth.

"No portal. We're flying!" said Jack

"F-flying?" asked Monty, obviously scared.

"Don't worry, Monty. You don't have to fly with this maniac. You can come with me" Tooth smiled as she gave him a cuddle and lifted him up from the ground.

Monty blushed tomato red. Now he was scared _and_ embarrassed.

The wind lifted the rest of the kids up a and they all flew away.

"Try to keep up, Tooth!" Jack said daringly.

"Ha! I'll wait for you at the Pole, Jack!"

Monty flinched.

* * *

**Hope the** **telepathy portion between Tooth and** **Baby Tooth wasn't too confusing!**


	7. Snowfight

**Thanks ObsidianLove, I'm glad you like it!**

**"I love the telepathic connection between Tooth and Baby Tooth btw. Can she communicate with every fairy or just BT?"**

**For what I gather from my research she does have the connection with all her fairies, not just BT. Now, my two cents worth is that they can turn it on and off at will - with thousands of fairies "talking" at the same time she would just go nuts- so she uses the connection to communicate with them while they're on the field. I also think strong emotions should trigger it, so that if a little fairy is in trouble Tooth would know. So I imagined that Baby Tooth got so exited to see Jack that it triggered the connection.**

**PhilliaCabretDaughterofPosiedon, sorry I never replied to you. Maybe North wouldn't throw a party but he's over excited and loud and I said in chapter one that he was a hopeless romantic, so definitely not someone I would like to talk to in this situation, chances are he'll spill the beans or try to play matchmaker in an embarrassing way ;)**

**And since this intro is annoyingly long already, lets make it longer! A shot out to my PANAS from Venezuela following this story. I'm originally from there. It's súper chévere to know that you're reading :)**

**Oh, and thanks to all of you reviewing, you brighten my day!**

**Me out now ;)**

* * *

"Woohoo!" yelled Caleb as he spun in the air at top speed, arms outstretched, eyes closed.

CUACK CUACK

"Whaaaa! Oooh!" He opened his eyes and saw the duck's beak right in front of his face.

"Oops" said Jack, as he moved the kid out of the way in the nick of time. "You OK down there?"

" .AWESOME!" said Caleb excited.

Jack was definitely loosing this race. Steering the five kids proved harder than he thought, especially because they weren't exactly staying still. It wasn't really helping that Tooth was having the time of her life, twirling and turning and laughing her sweet, almost musical laugh. Her feathers were painting the clouds with all the colors of the rainbow and Jack was finding her intoxicatingly beautiful. As much as he tried he could not take his eyes away from her.

He knew it was not real; if it wasn't for his magical snowflake she would be objecting to this whole thing and trying to stop him. But it was so refreshing to see her like this, carefree, just enjoying herself without a worry in the world. He hoped he could make her feel like that forever without having to use his magic. He found himself smiling and he couldn't stop. She was definitely contagious.

"I really thought you would be more of a challenge, Jack!" she said spinning around to look at him. Monty was screaming at the top of his lungs, completely terrified while Tooth, intoxicated by Jack's magic, thought he was just having fun.

"I'm just letting you win because you're a lady!" said Jack laughing. He definitely would have been more of a challenge if he wasn't so distracted by her, but he was not about to tell her that.

She was just spectacular and Jack couldn't help but stare at her. He was looking at the pattern on the feathers of her neck and face, how they slowly transitioned from yellow to green and back to yellow again, when his eyes met Monty's, who was holding on to Tooth's waist for dear life.

"S-she's the maniac!" the scared youngster whispered.

Jack chuckled and threw a blue snowball straight into the kid's face. And with that, Monty started laughing as Tooth spun him around, flying away from Jack.

They soon arrived at the North Pole. At least Tooth and Monty did. She slowly put him down on the ground.

"We wan! She said, both her hands on his shoulders. "Did you have fun?"

But Monty couldn't reply, he could only stare at her, mouth open, amazed at how beautiful she was. The North Pole was visible from where they were standing, with giant sugar canes and Christmas trees adorned with fairy lights and the massive structure that was Santa's workshop carved into a glacier. North and the Yetis were standing outside the workshop, waiting for, Jack. But Monty didn't see anything but Tooth. It seemed that Jack was not the only one affected by her smell of summer flowers and honey.

Tooth flew upwards doing a small victory dance, stirring an invisible pot in front of her chest with both her hands.

"I wan! I wan! I wan, I wan, I wan!" She sang happily.

Jack had never been happier of losing in his life. She was just hilarious in a heart warming way.

"So, are you going to tell me what a loser I am?" he said smiling.

"Oh, those teeth..." she thought to herself flying into his arms again, spinning him around. Jack was loving what that snowflake was doing to her.

"Let's just say you're second best" she said giggling.

"Tooth? What are you... Jack? What are kids..." Said North, but Jack hit him in the face with a magic snowball before he could finish the question.

"Frost!" said North "you are back on the naughty list now!"

Jack chuckled as all the kids except one, ran after Santa, attacking him with snowballs. Jamie looked at Jack, eyes wide with excitement.

"THIS IS SO COOL! Thank you" he said, and he wrapped Jack in a hug before going away after his friends.

Jack stood there, trying to recover from Jamie's hug. His hugs were so different to Tooth's and yet so similar in the way they warmed his heart. The winter spirit knew that there'll be millions of kids now that he was a Guardian, but Jamie would always have a special place in his heart.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a snowball in his head. An elf, Jack recognized as the one he froze for trying to make him wear shoes, was rolling on the floor laughing.

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my team!" said Jack. The elf gave him a shoulder shrug and ran away.

Jack looked around. The snowball fight was in full throttle and he was missing it. The kids had North cornered and Tooth was flying left and right throwing snowballs to unsuspecting yetis.

Then Phill, the yeti, made a snowball the size of his head and aimed it straight at tooth.

"Oh, not my Tooth, you don't!" said Jack, as the wind suspended the snowball in mid air and made it change direction, hitting Phil straight on the face.

Jack kept attacking the yetis left and right, they didn't turn out to be the fearsome adversaries Jack thought they would be. They were rather slow, with a terrible aim and Jack was having the time of his life making them hit themselves in the head with their own oversized snowballs.

"Jamie, you are on the naughty list as well, wait till I catch you!" said North, throwing snowballs at the kids and running away. "Pippa, you will only get coal under the Christmas t..." but a snowball interrupted that sentence as well. Pippa chuckled.

"Thank you, Cupcake!" she said.

"Anytime!" Cupcake said smiling.

Just when the kids thought Santa was finished, he took out a secret weapon: a huge automatic machine gun, made entirely from ice, designed to fire 10 snowballs per second. He turned around Rambo style and started shooting at the kids. Jack flew to their rescue diverting the snowballs so they wouldn't get hit until the shower of snowballs stopped suddenly. Tooth had shot one single snowball at North's hand, forcing him to drop the weapon, which fell on the floor and broke into small pieces. Monty's eyes widened when he realized who had saved them.

"Toothie..." said North "you are on the naughty list too!" and he ran after her, snowball in hand.

The fight continued until the kids collapsed on the floor, exhausted. They were wet, they were cold and they were tired, but they've never had that much fun in their whole lives. Seeing the kids on the floor awoke North from his intoxicated state.

"Let's all get inside and get warm" said North as he started to help the kids up. "You want some hot chocolate, no?"

"Yes please!" said Claude smiling.

"And cookies!" said Caleb, making the other kids chuckle.

"Hot Chocolate and cookies it is" said North smiling warmly.

They all went inside to the room with the large fire place. North went to sit by the fire with the kids but Jack preferred to stay by the door, as far away from the fire as he could. Tooth stayed with him.

"So, you'll have to tell everyone that you have a boyfriend now." said Jack with a big grin.

Tooth eyes widened and her checks turned bright red. Jack chuckled as he realized what she was thinking. Not that he had given it _that_ much thought, but he definitely didn't want to be her boyfriend. He was thinking more along the lines of _partner_.

"I mean, Monty is definitely in love" he said and she let out a nervous giggle. "Not that I blame the kid" Jack heard the words escaping his lips before he could stop them.

"What do you mean?" Tooth's eyes widened again.

"Well... I" Jack stumbled but he was saved by North's grave voice.

"Tooth, go home! Jack, walk with me"

"North" Tooth said, she looked a little scared. " I'm as guilty as Jack is. What makes you think this wasn't my idea?"

North turned to face her with a smile.

"Toothie, you don't have it in you to snowfight like that" he got closer so only Tooth could hear him now "go home, I'll give him back to you in one piece, I promise."


	8. Power

**Bunny is coming back next chapter. And maybe Sandy as well, unless next chapter gets too long! **

* * *

North was quiet as he walked towards his office, making the winter spirit feel like a kid going to the principal's office. Not that Jack knew what that felt like, but he had seen countless kids in this predicament before, many times because of him. He wondered what was it about the Russian man that made him feel so young. When did Santa become his dad? Jack smiled to himself at that thought. He definitely didn't need a father, but it was nice to have a family for the first time, to feel that someone cared about him.

Sure he knew he had had a family back when he was just Jackson Overland, but he had only seen his memories, he couldn't really remember anything. It was no different than watching a movie. He really didn't know what having a family _felt_ like.

Jack had almost forgotten he was in trouble until they were already in front of North's office.

North sat down on his chair and motioned Jack to do the same. There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

"Maria" said North, looking outside the window.

"Excuse me?"

"My Jamie, her name was Maria. I met her long before you were even born. When her baby sister got ill, she wrote me a letter begging not to bring her anything for Christmas, but to restore her sister's health" North took the letter out of a drawer and handed it over to Jack. This little girl must have been royalty, because most girls back then couldn't read or write and the writing on the letter was formal and elaborate. It was written in very old parchment paper that looked so old Jack assumed some sort of magic most be stopping it from disintegrating.

"Of course I couldn't do that, I don't even posses that kind of magic!" North continued. "Her little sister passed before Christmas. I assumed this child would never believe in me again, but when I got to her house to deliver her presents she was waiting for me. She was angry, but she still believed I existed, even after she thought I had failed her"

"I went to visit as often as I could. I really loved this kid. I thought she was special, no? Until one day, I went to visit and she walked right through me. She had forgotten me, stop believing." Said North with sadness. "By spending time with Jamie, you are only setting yourself up for heartache".

"Maybe I'm willing to take that risk." said Jack, defiant.

"She grew up, Jack. She got married and had kids of her own and she told them about me, even if she didn't believe anymore". North continued, ignoring the other spirit's comment.

"And then I understood: all children will grow up, no exception. That's the way it should be. Only as grown ups can they shape the world and support the next generation of children. It is our job to preserve the innocence in children, in the hope that when they grow up they become kind, compassionate adults."

"You guys have been failing terribly at that!" said Jack.

"We're not the only influences out there, no? And there's always been good people trying to do the right thing."

"I suppose so..." said Jack.

"Believe is the best thing we can give them. And believe is all the more powerful when there is no proof, no?Just like faith. At the same time, the more they believe, the more power we get, the more we can protect them. That's why you shouldn't let kids see you, any of us, anymore."

"Whoa! I'm sorry but that's just not me! For 300 years all I ever wanted was for the kids to see me, to believe in me. Now that they finally do I'm not planning on hiding from them. I need the kids, they're my happiness, they give my life meaning. I can't be like you guys working hard for the kids but spending no time with them."

"But Jack, that's the way it should be. That's what Guardians do. If they start believing in you, really believing, imagine how powerful you would become."

"The Man in the Moon chose me to be a Guardian because of who I am. And I'm quite happy with my powers as they are, thank you very much. Besides, last time I checked, not having my powers linked to the kids' believe saved our bums."

"But Pitch is immune to your powers now."

"That depends on what you consider my powers to be. I make people forget all their worries and fears and just have fun. That's my power. A wise guy said that was my center." Jack said with a crooked smile.

North couldn't help smiling as well.

"Very well then, we'll try it your way. But please, don't bring any more kids to our home anymore. I'm old school." said Santa.

"Hey, I brought them to the North Pole, you were the one who let them in and fed them!" said both laughed.

"Do you want me to take them home?" asked the young spirit, getting up from his chair.

"No need, the yetis must have taken them home already. Ah...Jack, you dropped something." said North pointing at the floor with a knowing look on his face.

Jack looked down and for a moment he wished he was invisible."The damn feather" He thought to himself, picking it up from the floor.

"Would you like to talk about that? Or should I just keep pretending that I know nothing?" asked North, smiling kindly.

"There's not much to tell, really. I'm more confused than anything else." said Jack, still looking at the floor.

"Maybe I can help." said North.

"I'm like, obsessed with her. Like my whole world spins around her."

"Well, that would be normal!" said North, suppressing a laugh.

"I just... I was alone. No physical contact, no one to talk to... Invisible" Jack said, eyes fixed on the ground "and then she shows up, smelling like flowers, with no respect for personal space..." he couldn't help smiling "and she's kind, and she understands me..."

"So, what is the problem?"

"She obviously likes me! Maybe even... loves me..."

"Is that why you're confused? You think you and Tooth are in love? Thta is a good thing, Jack! said the Russian man, smiling kindly.

"No, I just don't know. It's all too new. I don't know if this is about her or if it's about getting attention from a girl for the first time ever. She's sweet and she's a good friend and I don't want to hurt her." said the winter spirit, his face contorted looking straight into North's eyes, searching for answers.

"I thought this may happen" said North, rubbing his chin "I think you should stop listening to your head and hear what your heart has to say."

"Is that all you've got?" asked Jack, frustrated.

"Well, what were you expecting?"

"I don't know, a straight answer. Maybe one of those Russian wooden dolls."

North chuckled.

* * *

**Question: I feel an adventure coming up. What do you think? Should this story stay as romance/family or should we invite some bad guy to this party?I'd probably still write the adventure anyway, but I can do it as a separate story.**

**Before you answer that I need to say that I wanted to do something original and it's been quite hard to find a cool bad guy that hasn't been used already, so our mithological evil would be sexy and sadistic and a bit incestuous (Yes, it is THAT bad!) and there's a big chance that one or more of our favorite characters get tortured or at least bashed badly because our evil loves physical pain. Our Guardians will still be the same fluffy people, though and i promise to keep gore to a minimum and use more implied violence than actual violence. You've been warned!**


	9. Menace

**Wow! Thank you everyone for your feedback.**

**Because I'm making it up as I go, this is a democratic fanfic and it seems that adventure has won, just by a nose.**

**Fear not, just because there'll be some bad guy messing things up it doesn't mean the story will be less romantic. If anything, don't you think that Jack's confusion will be gone when some evil** **threatens to hurt HIS Tooth? ;)**

**I'll try to keep the evil under control so that it's not too bad, but I'll change the rating just in case.**

**Motherofthegorde, thanks for the wonderful advice. I did say the other two Guardians are coming back, didn't I?I'm not too sure about Picth, but we'll see where the story takes us :D**

**RJguzman, you're absolutely right. I went back and changed it, thank you.**

* * *

Three dark figures approached Jack's lake in Burgess.

"So much pain..." said a beautiful female voice.

"And dispair! I can taste it in my tong" said her sister.

"But where is it coming from?" asked the male voice, looking around, searching.

And then, out of nowhere, an old, broken bed appeared in the center of the lake. It was made of rotten wood, and most of it's planks were broken, revealing an entrance to some sort of lair. The three siblings entered through the hole in the lake, lured by pain and suffering.

* * *

Tooth was trying to concentrate at work but it was impossible. She had so much to do, especially because Jack kept her away from the Palace for almost an entire day. Jack... She couldn't stop thinking about him. Would North ask him to leave? She really didn't want Jack to live alone in the snow again. Should she ask him to move into the Tooth Palace? That would be awkward. Besides, she didn't even know if her Palace was too warm for the winter spirit. She didn't even know if her heart could take it if he was _that_ close to her.

Just as she started hyperventilating again, Bunnymund jumped out of a rabbit hole right in front of her.

"Bunny! It's so good to see you!" she said, flying to greet him.

"Hello Gorgeous, I've got something for you" the Guardian of Hope moved aside to show his googies bringing hundreds of blue and yellow flowers through the hole.

"Oh, my favorites! Thank you!" She said hugging him and kissing his cheek.

"Nah, it's nothing, Love" he said a little blushed, although Tooth could not see his pink cheeks underneath his fur.

A horde of fairies flew towards Bunny to hug him and kiss him as well.

* * *

When Jack left North's office, he decided to fly away before North made him have dinner again. He had eaten more in the last week than he did all winter and he felt that he was going to explode if he had any more food.

His first instinct told him to go and see Tooth. He wanted to tell her that he had survived his encounter with North. She really looked concerned for him when she realized he was in trouble, even after he had hit her with a magical snowflake. "Mental note:apologize for that one." He thought.

He was already on his way when he remembered what North said "I think you should stop listening to your head and hear what your heart has to say" and Jack decided that Tooth was too intoxicating and distracting for both his head and heart.

He flew to Burgess instead. He knew Jamie would still be awake.

As he entered the town, Jack realized that something was off. it was too cold for a spring night and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He looked around, but he couldn't see anything suspicious and he brushed it off.

The window was opened even though it was freezing outside. Clearly Jamie had been waiting for him.

"Whoa! You did come! What happened? Was Santa angry? Pippa and Cupcake were saying that the yetis got us home because you were in trouble." said Jamie, jumping on his bed.

"Hahaha, yes he was a little mad, but it's all cool now. I don't think I can bring you guys back to the North Pole anymore, though. Was it at least worth it? Did you guys have fun?"

"It was AMAAAZING!" said Jaime touching his face. Did you see how we cornered him?! And cupcake hit him right on the face?! It was awesome!" Jamie was talking as fast as Tooth, and thinking about her made Jack smile. Maybe he would go and see her after all.

Lost in his thoughts of Tooth, Jack turned away from Jamie and saw a weird beam of light appear and disappear across the hall, in Sophie's room. Steps, a murmur, a shadow. Jack's fight or flight response triggered, and he was definitely fighting to keep these kids safe.

"Jamie, stay here and close the door" the winter spirit said more serious than Jamie had ever seen him, eyes fixed in Sophie's bedroom, staff ready to attack.

His heart was pounding as he entered the room. He was scared for the sweet little girl, but he was also angry that something would try to hurt a child in his watch. And then it hit him: if he was being watched, he was the one who lured this thing into Jamie's house. By loving these kids, he was making them targets. That thought made him a little nauseous, but the instinct to protect Sophie was stronger. He was sure of one thing: no one was hurting the children tonight. Not in his watch.

He saw the shadow leaning over the sleeping girl.

"You may want to step back very slowly pal" Jack said menacing.

And then he saw a set of long ears and he heard a familiar voice speaking in an unmistakable accent.

"Or what, mate?" said Bunny as he turned around, boomerang in hand.

They both laughed quietly trying not to disturb the toddler.

"So, what are you doing here, Kangaroo?" asked the winter spirit, grinning.

"Same as you, Frosty."

"But Guardians work for the children, they don't spend time with the children." Frost said in a thick Russian accent. Bunny chuckled.

"Oh, did you get scolded, Frostbite?" asked Bunnymund suppressing a laugh.

"Hey! At least I came clean!"

"Nah, this is nothing. I'm just enjoying having her around for a little while. This ankle bitter is too young, she won't have any memory of me when I stop visiting her."

"Yeah, right" said Jack, incredulous.

"I come in the night to sing her the princess song before bed, but I got late tonight, she was already asleep." said the guardian of Hope looking at Sophie as if she was the most precious thing in the world.

"The princess song?" asked Jack mischievously.

"Yes, you know: I'm a little princess, here is my crown..." Bunny sang, but he couldn't finish the rest of the song. The image of tough Bunny singing a song about being a little princess was so hilarious that Jack chuckled out of control.

"You're right, you're not a Kangaroo..." Jack said laughing "you're a little princess!"

"Oi!" said Bunny. Jack was laughing as he flew out of his reach.

"Wait till I catch ya, Frostbite!" said Bunnymund before the door opened.

"But, what?!" asked a very confused Jamie.

"Bunny, bunny. Hop, hop,hop!" said Sophie, awakened by all the commotion.

"Are you two fighting?" asked Jamie, a little frightened.

"Nah, little mate. This is just us having fun!" said Bunny.

"Yeah, we call each other names and Bunny chases me around to show me how much he cares" said Jack, grinning.

"It's all just fun and games" said Bunny, who was now sitting on the bed next to Sophie. The little toddler bed was way too small for him.

"I'll take Jamie back to his room, see you around little princess!" said Jack.

"Oi!" said Bunny, but Jack and Jamie were already outside the room.


	10. Jealous

Jack and Jamie sat on the bed.

"You and Bunny really are friends, right?" asked Jamie.

"Of course we are" said Jack laughing. "Didn't I make you believe in Bunny again? We just play, that's all."

"I'm a little princess

Here is my crown

Twirling, twirling

Round and round"

They could hear Bunny in the other room. He had a surprisingly good singing voice. Both the boys chuckled.

"Jamie Bennett!" said Mrs Bennett from across the hall "go to sleep now!"

Jamie looked scared.

"You better go to sleep now, Kiddo" said Jack, tucking Jamie in.

"Hey, Snowflake! We'll go together, I need to talk to you about something." said Bunny, who was standing at the door.

"Sure, I'll walk you home. We wouldn't want a little princess walking alone in the night, would we?" said Jack, winking at Jamie, who laughed quietly.

"Yeah, very funny, mate! Let's go!" said the Guardian of Hope, annoyed. "See ya, kid!"

"Bye, Jamie!" said Jack.

"Bye guys, come back soon!" said Jamie waving.

The two Guardians left Jamie's room and went to sit on the roof.

"So, I went to see Toothie today, you know, I always bring her flowers, that's why I was late for Sophie..." said Bunny, casually.

Jack's face dropped and his complexion was paler than usual. Bunny always brought her flowers? Did Bunny have feelings for Tooth? It made sense after all, they've known each other for so long, and Tooth was so... well, perfect... Was she in love with Bunny? Had Jack been kidding himself all this while? Maybe she was just being nice and he took it the wrong way. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? No, definitely a bad thing, judging by the stabbing pain in his chest. Was this what being jealous felt like?

"Crikey, Frosty! I just watched an entire soap opera on your face. Which is a good thing, I guess." Bunny smiled. "So I was with Tooth, she and her fairies love these little weeds that grow all over my warren"

Jack had a confused look on his face.

"The flowers, Frosty. They drink the nectar, mate! That's why they always smell like flowers. Anyway, that Sheila was sooo worried about you and Jack this, and Jack that, and Jack and Jack and Jack... even _I_ could see that something is going on here" Bunny said, making circles with his hand.

Jack was even more confused now.

"Well, you don't really scream commitment, mate, and I just wanted to tell you that Tooth is like a sister to me" he said, getting closer to Jack until their noses were almost touching "you break her heart and I'll break _you_" Bunny said menacing.

Jack laughed. "That's it? Don't worry Bunny, I don't intent to break her heart, not that she's making it any easy."

"We'll whatever you do just don't make her feel ugly, OK? Said Bunny.

Jack couldn't understand. Tooth? Ugly? She was the epiphany of beauty, she was sublime. How could anyone make something so beautiful feel ugly?

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since I know Tooth, this is the first time I've seen her interested on a bloke, putting herself out there. You see, she was born human and one morning she woke up looking like that." Bunny explained.

"That must have been tough" said Jack.

"I think it still haunts her. I don't think she knows where she fits in. She thinks she's a freak." said Bunny.

Jack felt a surge of anger on his spine. Tooth was definitely not a freak.

"Well, you have nothing to worry about. I don't think she's ugly and I'm not planing on breaking her heart either."

"Good. See you Frostbite!" said Bunny from the side walk, tapping his paw on the ground, which made a huge rabbit hole appear next to him. He obviously wanted this awkward conversation over.

"Hey, Bunny!" Jack said before the other Guardian could disappear through the hole. "Did you notice anything strange about Burgess tonight?"

Bunny was shocked. He had noticed the strange cold, but after seeing Jack he assumed it was his doing.

"You mean to say that you're not behind the cold?" asked the pooka.

"No, I'm not behind the cold. And for a moment I had this strange feeling that I was being watched." Jack was worried now. He was hoping that Bunny hadn't noticed anything and it was all his imagination.

"How about we go to the Pole and talk to the old man about this?" asked Bunny, tapping the ground again and motioning for Jack to enter through the hole. Jack nodded and followed his fellow Guardian.

Back at the Pole, The Guardian of Wonder was sitting on a leather chair reading a book in front of the fire and drinking eggnog when a rabbit hole appeared in the center of the room.

"Bunny, Jack! Right on time for dinner!" North said. Jack rolled his eyes.

"We need to talk to you about something, mate" said Bunny. "Something dodgy is happening at Burgess. There is this strange cold and a bad atmosphere. Jack felt he was being watched. We were both so on edge that we almost attacked each other."

"Umm" said Santa, rubbing his chin. "Well, we know it can't be Pitch, I'm sure he will be out for at least a century."

"What if someone helped him?" asked Jack.

North looked worried. "Yes, but who? In any case, I am sure MiM would tell us if there was some imminent danger out there. It may just be a passing spirit, but you two keep your eyes opened when you go and see the kids." Bunny and North shared a glance. North knew that he was visiting Sophie.

"You do bloody see it all, don't ya?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, I just wish I had seen what is in Burgess now. With Pitch trapped in there, I would prefer not having any dark spirits around. I will send some yetis to keep guard outside Pitch's lair, just in case." said North.


	11. Abigail Burgess

**Sorry if this chapter gets long** **and a bit boring toward the end. These things need to happen to make room for awesome things to come :) Hopefully the Frostbite will keep you interested ;)**

**Oh, and don't worry, we'll learn more about our villains next chapter - which is almost ready, it will come really soon ;)**

* * *

Jack flew straight to the Tooth Palace. He had a feeling of urgency, as if Tooth needed him somehow. After the creepy feelings last night, he was scared for her.

Baby Tooth greeted him at the Palace's entrance.

"Hey, Baby Tooth! How are you?" he said smiling.

Baby Tooth, as always, rubbed her little body against the guardians face, but this time, she stood on his finger instead of his neck.

"Where is Tooth?"

Baby Tooth made a worried face, and Jack's heart started racing.

"Is she ok?! Where is she?!"

Baby Tooth pointed towards the gardens.

Jack flew at top speed, his heart almost as fast as Tooth's hummingbird one. He breathed a sight of relief when he found Tooth. She was crying, but she looked otherwise unharmed.

"Tooth?" he asked timidly.

"Go away! I don't want you to see me like this!" she squeaked.

"Tooth don't be silly!" he smiled one of his dazzling crooked smiles "please tell me what's wrong. I... I don't like to see you like this..."

"I'm a freak! No one will ever love me because I'm a monster! she cried. "You won't ever love me because I'm a monster" she whispered, but he still heard her.

He kneeled in front of her and kissed her eyes one by one. She looked at him and his heart skipped a beat. He held her face in his hands.

"You are the most beautiful being I have ever seen in my life. You are the epiphany of beauty. You are... sublime, perfect. I'm the one with the old man's hair and the big ears" he said.

Tooth giggled and Jack felt warm inside. She should always giggle, she should never cry again.

"Jack" she whispered "do you... love me?"

Jack stared into her magenta eyes, still red from crying. He opened his eyes and found himself laying on his bed at the North Pole.

These dreams were confusing Jack even more. Really he couldn't even say he loved her in a dream, yet the fact that he couldn't stop dreaming about her, thinking about her, had to mean something.

* * *

The Guardian of Fun spent most of the day with North trying to figure out what happened at Burgess the previous night. They asked MiM, but he had nothing to say. North checked all his books about spirits and magical creatures, but they had so little to go on that almost each and every one of them fitted the profile.

After hours of work they were back to square one and Jack was growing anxious. He knew there was no real danger last night, but he didn't like the feeling in his stomach when he thought something could attack Sophie, or Jamie, or Cupcake, or the twins or any kid in his town.

"I'm going back to Burgess to check on the kids." Jack said.

"Take these with you" the Guardian of Wonder handed Jack eight small glass spheres that looked like Christmas tree ornaments. "They work like cellphones. Here, this blue one is yours" said Santa handing one to the boy while he took out his own red sphere and said: "Jack".

The Guardian of fun was amazed to see North's face talking to him from inside his sphere.

"Wow! These are cool! So, you just say the person's name and that's it?" he said.

"Yes. Just give one to each of the children. They can be our eyes and ears out there and they can call us if they get in trouble." North replied. "I even made one for little Sophie. I know she is too young to understand, but I hope she calls for Bunny if she is scared."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're brilliant?" said Jack, smiling.

"Once or twice" said the Russian man, laughing.

* * *

Jack waited for the kids outside the school. It was warmer now, but there was still something very wrong going on in this town. The atmosphere was heavy, somewhat sad, and Jack found himself lingering on bad memories, thinking about his sister and wondering if she even survived that day, alone in the cold, far away from the town.

The bell rang and the kids stormed out of the school. Jack was besides himself to see kids pointing at him and saying his name. Then he saw Jamie and his friends. They did not look as happy as they always were.

"We'll go to the library, Jamie!" said Pippa.

"We agreed to go my house. If Jack shows up we can ask him questions!"

"Jack, Jack, Jack! Are you in love with him or something?" said Caleb

"He's the coolest friend I've ever had. Unlike you, Caleb! We're going to my house." said Jaime firmly.

"You're not our boss, Bennett!" said Cupcake.

Jack thought it was very odd to see the kids fighting like that.

"Hey guys and gals! What's going on?" The winter spirit asked, approaching the kids.

"Jamie thinks that he's our boss, as always!" said Claude.

"I just wanted to do this homework at my place, in case you showed up." said Jamie.

"Well, I'm here now. We can go anywhere you want to go."

The kids settled for the library. They had to write an essay about Colonial times at Burgess.

"Jack, how was life 300 years ago?" asked Monty.

"Oh, life was tough. You guys have it quite easy now. At 34 you were already an elder, and you would have been very lucky to live until 40. Something must have been wrong with me because I wasn't married when I... became Jack Frost" said Jack.

"You mean, you were human before?" asked Jamie.

Jack regretted the words right after he said them. "Me and my big mouth" he thought to himself.

"Well, I, yes. But I can't really remember being human. A tooth fairy showed me my memories. That's why they collect them." Jack was really hoping that bringing up the tooth fairies would divert the kids attention, but no such luck.

"Wow! That's awesome! So we could become Guardians too!" said Claude.

Jack winced at that idea, considering that he had to die to become a Guardian. He definitely preferred these kids alive.

The kids kept flickering book pages and arguing about what they should write on their essays when Jack saw them, those unmistakable eyes... Abigail Burgess, read the inscription in the book.

"Jamie, this woman here... Do you know who she is?" asked Jack.

"She married one of the founder's son. I think she started the first school in Burgess." said Jamie.

"Yeah, but it sucked. It was only for boys." said Pippa.

"Can we find out more about her?" asked the Guardian.

"What do you want to know?" asked Cupcake.

"How long did she live? Did she have kids? Did she have a brother named Jack?" The winter spirit asked, excited. He wanted to know everything he could about Abigail Burgess.

"Jack... was this your sister?" asked Jamie.

"I think so" said Jack.

"We'll ask the librarian to help!" said Claude.

"My mom works at the registry. They may have her family tree there. I'll ask her to look it up." said Jamie, smiling.

"Thanks guys!" said Jack, hopeful to finally get some closure. At least he knew she lived long enough to get married and to open a school. She hadn't die that day along with him.


	12. Cold, pain, sorrow

**WARNING: Implied violence**.

* * *

Two beautiful women were sitting on the floor on Pich's lair. They were identical, except that one was blonde and the other brunette. And they were drop dead gorgeous: big, bright green eyes, framed by impossibly long eye lashes, angular heart shaped faces, full lips and hour glass figures covered by sexy golden tunics. Anyone who didn't know who they were would fall for their beauty.

"Nooo! Get away from me! I'm begging you!" Pitch's voice could be heard in the background.

The blond one, Ania, was caressing her sister's long, wavy hair while they watched intently as Pitch was being tortured by his own fearlings.

"Get away! Get away!" said Pitch's tortured voice.

"Aaw, the poor soul is suffering so much." said her sister Lupe, smiling.

"I almost feel sorry for him" said Ania, and both sisters laughed.

They were enjoying this. Feeding of Pitch's pain, making themselves stronger and the fearlings even more powerful.

"I wish we could make everyone this miserable. Imagine how powerful we would become!" said their brother Akhos. He too was beautiful. The same green eyes framed by dark eyebrows against tan skin, a strong face, and a body that could have been sculpted by an artist. His voice was warm and sexy.

"Didn't you see his memories?" said Ania. "we could if we got rid of those Guardians first!"

"It would be so easy for sadness and pain to take over in the absence of hope and dreams and whatever other crap those guys are all about. And you, you could get that boy you're infatuated with!" said Lupe, clapping in excitement.

"He can actually be quite an asset. Cold, pain, sorrow. It fits perfectly!" said the brother.

"But they are powerful. We'd have to gain more power in order to defeat them." said Ania.

"I know just the way" said Akhos, smiling devilishly as he freed Pitch from the fearlings with a wave of his hand.

Pitch looked up, regaining awareness of the world. He was surprised to see the three beautiful faces. He knew who they were.

"The Algea Triplets! Your reputation precedes you. You've taken me out of my predicament, I can only assume you need my services?" said Pitch, smiling excitedly. Not only was he out of his torture but he had gained powerful allies he could use to finally destroy the Guardians.

But then, his expression turned back to fear, as he saw the look on Akhos' eyes.

"Something like that" said Ania and the triplets laughed as Pitch was magically chained to the wall.

The brother moved closer to the Boogieman, a metal tipped whip in his hand...

"Noooooo!" screamed Pitch.

The sisters laughed.

* * *

The library didn't hold much information on Abigail's life except the dates of her birth and death. She lived to be 38, which according to Jack, was a long life for her time. The winter spirit seemed pleased.

"Mum?" asked Jamie. "I need to ask you a favor..."

"What is it, sweetly?" asked Jamie's mom, Amanda.

"I need you to find out about someone's life."

"Jamie, I'm not a detective!" his mom laughed.

"I know, this person lived a long time ago. It was Abigail Burgess."

"The founder's daughter? Why do you want to know so much about her? asked Amanda.

"Uh, for... a school project. I need it as soon as possible. I want to go the extra mile, like dad always says..." Jamie lied.

"I'll see what I can do" said Jamie's mom.

* * *

The Guardian of fun decided to stay in Burgess that night. He knew something was very wrong and decided to go around the town, looking for anything suspicious. He didn't feel he had to stay with Jamie because the kid had North's sphere and he could call Jack if he was in trouble.

Jack was happy when he saw the golden sand in the sky.

"Sandy!" the winter boy said smiling. "It's always good to see you! What have you been up to?"

Sandy smiled and little pictures formed above his head, too fast for Jack to understand.

"Sandy, you'll have to do it slower than that!" the boy chuckled.

Sandy told Jack that he knew about the dark spirit, and that he was also keeping an eye out. It took Jack a good ten minutes to understand this. But what Sandy showed him next, Jack understood straight away.

JACK- ZZZ- TOOTH- HEART- ?

Jack's mouth fell open. Sandy had seen his dreams.

"You've seen them, haven't you?" said Jack, looking at the floor. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to disrespect her, I just can't help it."

When Jack looked up, Sandy hit him with more images:

JACK- TOOTH- HEART

"I don't know Sandy. I can't stop thinking about her, or dreaming about her, yet I can't say that I love her, not even in a dream. I'm confused and now I'm scared. I really don't want to hurt Tooth"

NO STOP SIGN WITH A QUESTION MARK INSIDE

"That wasn't a question? Do you think I love her?"

Sandy nodded.

JACK ASLEEP- HEART- STOP SIGN WITH BRAIN INSIDE

"You mean that my dreams come from my heart and not my mind?" asked Jack, smiling.

The golden man nodded again.

"Thanks Sandy! But why I'm I not sure, then?"

Sandy gave him a shoulder shrug.

Jack felt a bit beaten by his emotions. Was he just being a coward? Was he really in love with this gorgeous girl, who probably loved him back, and he was missing out on being with her just because of fear?

Absentmindedly, Jack started playing with Sandy's dream sand. And then... magic happened.

Touched by the Guardian of Fun, dreams were even more powerful. A unicorn ride for Cupcake became an adventure with knights and dragons, and Jamie who was dreaming of a snow ball fight, became the boy with the white hair, flying with the wind, having the time of his life. This particular dream made Jack smile to himself.

Sandy and Jack looked at each other. This was cool! Sweet dreams were becoming fun dreams and the two Guardians were enjoying themselves. They spent the rest of the evening bringing the kids of Burgess the best dreams of all, and for a few hours, the atmosphere of sadness disappeared. The children were happy.


	13. Better than dreams

**I'm a bit sad that nobody said anything about chapter 12. :(**

**If you don't like our villains speak now or forever hold your peace ;)**

**I'm still on time to change it. If you prefer just reverting to the original family/ romance we can do that as well. **

**Here's some fluff so you like my story again ;)**

* * *

Jack flew to the Tooth Palace. He wanted to see her, he didn't want to be afraid anymore. He figured spending time with her was the best way to clear his head, now that, thanks to Sandy, he knew where his heart was.

As he approached the Palace, an army of little fairies flew his way, kissing him and hugging him. He smiled at them and some started fainting right in front of him. Jack caught them in mid air before they hit the ground, which only caused more little fairies to faint, making it really hard for the boy to catch them, so he resorted to his friend, the wind, and dozens of unconscious fairies started floating in the air.

"Ladies! You're disgracing the uniform! Keep it together!" said Tooth and a handful of fairies who were pretending to be unconscious flew away. "Back to work now!"

"Sorry about that" said Tooth a bit embarrassed.

"It's OK, I like them. They look like you." said the winter boy causing Tooth to blush. He liked that. "Where do I put these ones?" he asked, pointing at the fainted fairies.

"Just put them down" Tooth said smiling "Girls! Come and help your sisters!" she shouted. "Come, let's go somewhere more private" she said, taking his hand.

Tooth took Jack to the gardens. Jack had only seen them once before, right after Pitch's attack,when the place had lost its charm.

So for the winter spirit, it was as if he was looking at the gardens for the first time. He was surprised at how beautiful the gardens were, at how strong the smell of flowers and fruit was, at how happy the place made him feel.

Tooth wrapped him in a hug and he was all too happy to bury his face in his favorite spot. He wondered how could he spend those many days away from her.

"How are you?" she asked, her head on his shoulder. The yellow feathers of her head were tickling his cheek.

"I'm great!" he said, referring to that particular point in time when she was in his arms. Reality was so much better than his dreams.

She pulled away and he reluctantly let her go.

"I have my fairies all over Burgess looking after the children. None of them have seen anything, but they all feel something very wrong. It seems to be getting stronger." Tooth said.

"I know, I feel it too. I can't believe MiM doesn't know what it is. Do you think we should go into Pitch's lair and investigate? Someone must be helping him get stronger. It's the only logical explanation." Jack said.

"North is worried that if this has nothing to do with Pitch and we go in there, we may actually awaken Pitch and make it worse." she said.

"I just can't sit here and do nothing!" said Jack.

"We're not doing nothing, Jack. We're looking after the children while North and MiM figure out what we're up against. As far as we know, there may not even be any real danger." she said putting her hand in his shoulder.

"I think I'll go and talk to North. I just have a bad feeling about this whole thing." he said, taking her hand and flying towards the exit.

"Bye Tooth" he said, hugging her in mid air and breathing in her sweet smell "we should do this more often, I missed you" her intoxicating smell was making him say stupid things.

His words triggered something in Tooth. They were so close. She could feel his cold breath between her shoulder and her neck, sending goosebumps all over her body. He smelled like a fresh winter morning and his hands on her back were sending chills down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

She slowly pulled away, her face brushing his, their lips so close. She closed the gap between them and Jack was waiting in frozen anticipation, unable to kiss her, unable to stop her.

Their noses were touching now, and Tooth panicked when she realized what she was about to do. She quickly pecked his nose to dissimulate and flew away from him.

"Oh, no way!" he said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her towards him. "I'm the one who does the nose nipping around here!"

Jack gently kissed the tip of her nose and flew away. He didn't even know why he did that. Maybe he just wanted to prolong that perfect moment.

"See ya, Tooth!" he said turning around in mid air to see her face, but his heart stopped when he saw an unconscious Tooth plummeting down to the ground.

"C'mon wind! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" he said flying at top speed towards the falling fairy. He caught her right before she hit the ground.

"Tooth?" he said, caressing her cheek with his thumb, hoping that his cold touch would wake her. She was just so beautiful and soft. "Tooth, are you OK?"

The guardian of Memories opened her eyes and smiled to see the beautiful face in front of hers filled with concern.

"You're just like your fairies!" Jack chuckled "did you just faint because I kissed your nose?"

Tooth didn't answer that, but the crimson in her cheeks did. Jack kept laughing as he helped her sit up, and then the laugh stopped suddenly. Their faces were so close once more and Jack's face grew paler than usual.

"Jack? Are you OK?" she said concerned.

"Fine" he mumbled "just terrified of what I'm about to do."

Jack closed his eyes and leaned closer to Tooth, his parted lips brushing hers, teasing. It took her a few seconds to process what was happening, but when she did, she leaned forwards, feeling the full pressure of his cold lips on hers. Their lips danced at unison for a few minutes, and then their mouths opened and their kiss got passionate, almost too urgent for two spirits who had all the eternity to be together.

Jack's staff hand was on her back and his free hand was drawing her all too human waist, and just like in his dreams, his touch was leaving behind goosebumps. Jack smiled to himself. He wanted to caress her neck and bring her even closer to him so he let go of his staff.

"Tooth!" He screamed as he plummeted down to the ground.

Tooth caught his hand in mid air and they both landed softly.

"Didn't you know we were flying?!" she laughed.

"Oh, I was flying, alright!" he said with his dazzling smile and pulled her toward him into a hug that said so much more than his kiss.

Their bodies just fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle and Jack was holding her tight, leaving no gaps between them. They stayed like that for what felt like a minute and a century at the same time.

"Jack..." Tooth said timidly.

"Shhhhh" he said kissing the top of her head.

He wasn't ready to say that he loved her yet.

* * *

Back on Pitch's lair, the Algea triplets were feeling strong after torturing Pitch. The time had come.

"Let's see... How do you lure a Guardian into a trap?" said Ania, smiling devilishly.

"That's easy! You take something they love" said Akhos.

"Something fragile and helpless" said Lupe, smiling just like her sister.

"Preferably mortal... and small" said Ania.

"What are we waiting for?" said Akhos, and the siblings set off towards Jamie's house.

Pitch was hanging by his arms in the center if the room. His swollen face barely recognizable among the cuts and bruises.

* * *

**OK, if you have nothing to say about any of that, I'm putting my pen down :P**

**That was NOT a dream ;)**


	14. Love

**Didn't that kiss blow you away? I got chills down my spine just writing that ;)**

**Sorry in advance for using the following headcanon. I know it's not original at all, but something will happen next and... I'll explain when we get there, I don't want to ruin the good parts. Just trust me, we needed to go there.**

**I know this one's a bit short, but it was kind of screaming to end there.**

* * *

Jamie, his mom and Sophie were having dinner. Jamie's dad was away on a business trip, as always.

"Mom, can I stay at Monty's tonight? We're having a sleep over. All my friends are going to be there." asked Jamie.

"Ok, I'll drive you after dinner." Amanda, Jamie's mom, said just before her phone rang. "Hello... Yes. Oh that's great, Jamie will love it! Thanks mom! Bye now." she was talking on the phone.

Jamie looked puzzled.

"Grandma says Hi" Amanda said looking at her kids. "Jamie, remember what you asked me to find out about Abigail Burgess? I could only trace her family up to 1894 at the office. But I noticed that the last entry was a little girl called Penelope Smith, born on 4th May from George and Elizabeth Smith. And that sounded awfully familiar! So I called grandma... " Jamie was still puzzled "it turns out that Penelope Smith was _my_ grandma!" she said excited, expecting Jamie to realize something.

"But I thought your grandma was British?" asked Jamie.

"So did I, but it turns out her family just moved there when she was little. Do you know what this means?" Jamie's mom asked.

"We are her descendants." Jamie whispered, shocked. He had not seen this one coming. "THIS IS SOO COOL! I can't wait to tell... my friends! Wow!"

"I know! This is literally our town! How cool is that!" said Amanda, obviously clueless about what Jamie was thinking.

* * *

Jack went back to the North Pole and found North at the globe room. He wanted to be serious about the issue in Burgess, but he really was just dreamy, intoxicated with Tooth's warm lips.

"Jack!" said North patting Jack's back rather hard.

"Hey North" said the winter boy, smiling absently.

"Oh! You have the face of a man in love! What happened?" asked North.

"A gentleman never kisses and tells" said Jack, smiling mischievously.

"That is great news! I'm very happy, you two are perfect for each other!" said the Russian man excited.

"Thanks North" said Jack "I need to talk to you."

North started looking rather nervous.

"Well, Jack you see, when a boy and a girl get close it is quite normal to feel new things. Did you have an erection?" asked North, pretending to be casual.

"W-What?!" asked Jack, shocked. Really that was the last word he ever expected to hear from Santa's lips.

"You know, did your..." started North.

Jack bursted out laughing.

"I know what you mean, I'm just wondering why you're trying to give me the talk." said Jack, still laughing.

The Guardian of Wonder looked very embarrassed now, eyes on the floor, redden cheeks.

"I just thought... you don't remember being human, no? And you had no one to talk to all this time. I assumed you didn't know."

Jack felt like hugging the russian man. No one had ever been thoughtful like that before and it was nice to know that North cared about him, even though he chose the most embarrassing way to show it.

"Thanks. I'm cool though. I've been stocking kids for 300 years, remember? I've heard the talk many times, I've followed teenagers on dates and I've seen kids watch things that no kid should ever watch." said Jack, smiling.

"I'm always here if you do have questions about anything, no?" said Santa "now, what did you want to talk about, then?"

"Burgess" said Jack serious "I think we have to go into Pitch's lair and find out if there's something in there" said Jack

"I agree. I was about to call a Guardians' meeting when you came in" North said, showing Jack the control panel already opened and ready to send the signal "MiM said Pitch is definitely not getting stronger, he is getting weaker; too weak, to fast. What do you think that means?"

"Maybe someone is feeding of Pitch's angst to gain strength." said Jack.

"My thoughts exactly." said North.

* * *

The streets of Burgess were dark and gloomy, too cold for a spring night. Not the kind of cold our favorite winter boy brought with him while he was playing around, but a kind of cold that chills bones and souls.

The triplets appeared right in front of the window that was so familiar to Jack. They magically opened it and enter Jamie's room.

Akhos leaned over Jamie's bed in anticipation. Nothing sweeter than hurting a child, they break down so easily. He could imagine the kid's face when he saw them: confusion at first, and then, pure, delicious fear when he realized what would happen to him. The triplet smiled to himself.

"Damn it, the boy is not here!" shouted Akhos, kicking Jamie's bed.

The sisters scattered around, looking for Jamie.

"Never mind Akhos" said Ania from across the hall, her eyes shinning malevolently "I've found something better." she said, pointing at the small, pink bed in the next room.

"Bunny, Buny! Hop, Hop, Hop!"

* * *

**PRETTY PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW :D**


	15. Battle

**Warning: violence. Warning: intense scenes. Warning: people will get hurt.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you ;)**

**This one is long, I couldn't bring myself to break the battle.**

**Thank you all for the reviews, I could not believe no one had anything to say about the kiss! I was so exited about it after writing 12 chapters just to get to it. I suppose it was a fanfiction glitch. Thanks for the support :)**

* * *

North turned on the Guardians' signal, the Aurora Borealis, and suddenly his sphere started talking to him, in the voice of a very distressed Bunnymund.

"It's... the Algea..." Bunny was panting, moving fast through one of his tunnels "I saw it in this thing... they have Sophie... I'm going in, mate" and the sphere went off. Bunny looked like he was going to drop dead any minute.

North's face turned paler than Jack's.

"North, who is the _Algae_?" asked Jack anxious. Whatever got the toughest guys he knew this scared, had to be really, really bad.

North ignored Jack's question.

"We have to get to the sleigh, now!" He said running out of the room with the sphere close to his mouth.

"Tooth! Sandy!" he said, and the two Guardians appeared inside the sphere. "We'll meet you at Burgess. It's the Algea. T-they, they have Sophie"

Tooth gasped and Jack saw her magenta eyes widened with terror before the sphere went off. Jack would never forget that image.

"North, you have to tell me what's going on!" said Jack as they ran to the sleigh.

"The Algea are triplets, son and daughters of Eris, the Greek Goddess of Chaos and Discord. No father." answered North.

"Did she just spawned them?" asked Jack.

"Yes" said North. It was good to talk. It was keeping him from being sick. "They are the bringers of grief, sorrow and pain... physical pain" he said, swallowing loudly. "They feed of it, it makes them more powerful."

There was a short silence as North got on the sleigh. Jack was trying to make sense of it all.

"They don't wait until you beg to be killed to finish you off. They wait much, much longer..." the Russian man continued, more to himself than to Jack.

"And they have little Sophie" said Jack, his face sunken. He wanted to be sick. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to really hurt somebody. If those guys so much as touched little Sophie...

"And they have little Sophie" repeated the Russian man. He looked like he had aged ten years in the last two minutes.

"If they are Gods... How do we defeat them?" asked Jack.

"I don't know if we can" said North "but we must try, no? This is suicidal mission, Jack, the other Guardians know it. I hope you are with us because we are going to need you." said North getting on the sleigh.

Jack had no doubts. He would give his life in a heartbeat to save Sophie's. And there was no way he would let his new family... his Tooth... face this sadistic jerks on their own.

"Of course I'm in!" said the winter spirit flying into the sleigh.

North took a portal out of his pocket.

"Burgess" he said.

* * *

Bunny found the Algea just outside of Jamie's house.

"What? Just the one Guardian?" said Lupe, flying closer to him."What happened little rabbit, did your friends chickened out?" she said, running her hand flirtatiously through his chest.

Bunny kept looking straight at Akhos. He was holding Sophie, caressing her hair and smiling. The little girl didn't seem scared and she looked unharmed. It was obvious to the Guardian that they were only using her as bait, but why? What did they want? Who did they want? It wasn't him, obviously, because he was still standing there.

"Bunny! Hop, Hop!" said Sophie, launching herself forward trying to reach her favorite Guardian. Bunny's heart shrank.

"No, no little one. Stay here with uncle Akhos just a little bit longer" the triplet said, holding the toddler tighter, looking at the pooka.

"Aww, did you feel that?" said Ania, maliciously "he loves her!"

"It would be such a pity if something was to happen to her" said Lupe, her nose touching Bunny's.

In a swift movement, Bunny grabbed Lupe by the hand and turned her around to face her siblings, while taking a knife out of his belt, its sharp blade against the Goddess' neck.

"OK mate, hand the ankle bitter over and nobody gets hurt." said Bunny menacing. He was not bluffing.

Lupe burst out laughing and Bunny felt her turning into fog between his arms and reappearing next to her siblings.

"Is that all you've got, little rabbit?" asked Lupe, still laughing.

"This will be easier than we thought!" said her sister.

But she spoke too soon. Sandy flew towards her trying to hit her with his gold sand whips.

A loud noise and jingles announced that North and Jack had arrived too.

"What took you so long?" asked Bunny smiling.

Ania immediately flew towards Jack, who attacked her without hesitation. He was surprised, though. By North's description he expected this villains to be two headed spawns from hell, he did not expect to be fighting this sweet face in front of his. He aimed his staff at her, but she was impossible to hit, turning into fog before the ice touched her. He did notice she wasn't trying to hit him back, she was teasing him, laughing... flirting? Really?

Sandy was fighting Lupe, who was attacking him with a bow and arrows. He was having the same problem as Jack. Every time he was about to hit the Goddess, she would turn to fog and reappear somewhere else.

Bunny attacked Akhos with all his power, trying to get to Sophie, who was screaming and crying for him.

"Go and help Bunny!", North said to Sandy "I'll take care of this one". The Guardian of Wonder just wanted to get the toddler out of there as soon as possible.

Akos took out his sword.

"Oh, such a pretty girl" he said, moving Sophie's hair out of her face with his sword. "It would be such a shame if something were to happen to this beautiful little face, wouldn't it?" Akhos was getting strength out of teasing Bunny, and he couldn't wait to hear the girl screaming in pain.

The Guardian of Hope was feeling murderous. Sandy and the pooka locked eyes for an instant and they both understood what they needed to do.

Akhos took his blade to Sophie's cheek, but he could only make a small, superficial cut because Sandy grabbed his arm from behind with his golden whip. Before Akhos could disappear, Bunny jumped to take the girl from him.

But Akhos's arm turned into fog, loosing Sandy's grip on him, and he stabbed Bunny on his side as the pooka took Sophie.

Bunny landed on his back, Sophie in his arms. He rolled on his unharmed side and wrapped her in his body to protect her. He had a big, deep cut on the right side of his torso and he was loosing a lot of blood.

"Bunny, Bunny!" said the little girl, holding him tight.

Bunnymund looked at her smiling and closed his eyes.

"Bunny, you K?" asked Sophie, but there was no answer.

North got distracted watching that unfold and he was almost hit by Lupe's arrow, causing him to loose his balance and fall from his sleigh.

"Noooo!" screamed the Russian man plumeting down to the ground.

Sandy was engaged in combat with Akhos and it was all he could do to stop the triplet from getting to Sophie. He could not let Bunny's sacrifice go to waste. Jack tried to go and help Santa, but Ania stopped him by covering the air around Jack in dark, thick fog.

"North! No!" Jack cried in desperation, trying to find a way to get to his friend.

North closed his eyes, ready to hit the ground to his death, but he felt two soft arms lifting him up instead.

"Toothie! Where have you been?" asked North smiling.

"Oh, you know, doing my make up" she said smiling, putting North on the ground.

"I'll take care of Bunny and Sophie, you go and help Jack!" said the Guardian of Wonder, attacking Akhos with his sword. It worried him that Jack didn't try to help him and he wondered what kind of trouble the Guardian of Fun was into. He didn't know if they had lost Bunny, loosing Jack as well would just be too much for him to take.

"If you want Sophie you'll have to get through me, first!" North shouted.

"It will be my pleasure, old man" said Akhos laughing.

Akhos launched himself forward trying to scoop little Sophie out from Bunny's inert body, but he only met North's swords or Sandy's whip.

Tooth was flying towards Jack at top speed. She was growing very anxious that she couldn't see him or hear him anymore. It hit her that her winter boy was just that, a boy. Only 300 years old. He was powerful, yes, but he had no battlefield experience at all, and he didn't even know the extent of his powers or how to control them. And he was alone, facing no less than a Goddess. A very cruel Goddess. Tooth concluded the worse: his Jack was being tortured inside that thick fog, probably calling out for help but no one could hear him scream. If that bitch was hurting Jack...

Jack was getting annoyed by this woman. He realized she was just distracting him, keeping him away from the battle, away from everyone else. She kept patting him, pinching him and kissing him, just turning into fog before he could react. He was worried about North, praying that Sandy had gotten to him on time. And then Jack had an idea.

Lupe started shooting arrows at Tooth, who attacked her back, by spinning around, her wings now as sharp as blades. The Guardian of Memories was so full of adrenalin that she actually managed to hit Lupe before the Goddess could turn into fog. It was just superficial, but the Goddess's blood was staining her fairy wings.

"You bitch!" cried Lupe, furious.

"Lupe!" shouted Akhos "stop playing around with the useless fairy and get rid of the damn sand man! Stick to the plan!"

It all happened too fast and Tooth could do nothing but watch Lupe throw a ball of thick fog at Sandy. The fog consumed the golden man, and when it dissipated, Sandy was gone.

"Sandy!" Tooth whispered "North! They took Sandy!"

North screamed Russian words that no one could understand and he attacked Akhos fearlessly, but the God just turned to fog and laughed. Akhos was enjoying the Guardian's pain.

* * *

Jack lowered his staff and stopped trying to hit Ania.

"C'mon, gorgeous, you're driving me crazy! I can't take this anymore! Stop coming at coming at me like that or I'll loose my head. What is it that you want from me?" Jack said, leaning over his staff casually.

Ania giggled like a 15 year old girl.

"I want _you_ silly!" she said smiling and getting closer to him. "I want to kiss you, and hold you and make love to you. I want you to be my partner for all eternity."

"You have no idea how much I want you right now" said Jack, stretching his hand for her to take it. He knew that Greek Goods were all about pleasure and self gratification. He just hope his attempts at being sexy worked.

Ania hesitated at his sudden change, but Jack smiled one of his dazzling smiles and she took his hand.

Tooth and North saw the blue light glowing and the thick fog banishing.

"Ha! I got her!" said Jack, celebrating. He had no idea that Bunny's body was on the floor or that Sandy had been taken.

An unconscious Ania was plummeting to the ground. Akhos flew to her rescue.

"Lupe, do it now! Lets get out of here!" Akhos shouted.

Lupe turned to Jack ready to hit him with a ball of fog.

"Jack!" said Tooth flying towards him, pushing him out of the way.

Jack landed on the pavement next to North. He saw the black fog consume Tooth.

"Noooooooo!" Jack screamed, hitting the ground with his staff, and North had to duck as the blue light shone again, stronger this time, turning everything it touched to ice.

But when the blue light faded, there was no sign of the Algea, or Tooth, or Sandy.

"No! No! No! No! Toooooth!" Jack was blinded by his rage. There was no way they were taking Tooth, he was going to stop them whatever it took. He was about to fly away, to go after them, when North held him from behind.

"You go now, we all die" said North "we need to see if Bunny is... we have to take Sophie to safety. We need a plan because it is just you and me now."

"Not Tooth" cried Jack, not even registering what North had said "that should have been me! That trap was for me! All of this was for me!"

And Jack's legs couldn't support him anymore, he fell on his knees torturing himself, thinking of his sweet, soft Tooth being tortured by the Algae because of him.

* * *

**Ummm, I bet Jack wishes he would have said I love you when he had the chance, right?**


	16. Believer

**I'm sure you saw that one coming, but don't worry, I'll surprise you eventually ;)**

**MagicGold34- thanks! Welcome to this bumpy ride. They are "real myths" *LOL* but not very known ones so there's very little info on them out there except for being the bringers of grief, sorrow and pain (both physical an mental). I came up with their physical appearance and personality. Akhos is most of the time portrayed as a girl as well (the name apparently is gender neutral) but I thought three girls would be boring, we're spicing it up ;)**

* * *

North put his hand on Jack's shoulder and squeezed hard.

"Do you think she's... dead" whispered Jack.

"I'm sure she's not" said the Guardian of Wonder, but his face was contorted with pain "Both sisters were hurt, they'll need to gain strength. I'm sure they'll use them for that."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better, thank you. She's not dead yet, Jack, they'll kill her slowly and painfully." said the winter spirit. He was not really angry at North, he was just angry at not being able to help Tooth.

"Give her some credit, Jack. Tooth is a warrior. She will hang in there until we go and get them. You two will be together again. I feel it. In my belly" said North smiling.

"Until we go and get them? Who else did they...?" Jack dreaded to ask the question. He was trapped in the thick fog and he didn't see what had happened to the other Guardians or Sophie.

"They took Sandy as well" said North looking down.

Jack felt his eyes well up. Two of his friends were in danger because of him.

"I have to go and check on Bunny" said North, patting Jack's back.

Jack turned around and saw it: the Guardian of Hope was lying lifeless on the pavement surrounded by a pool of blood. The winter spirit felt numbed. This was all too much to take in. Too much pain for a spirit who was all about fun and good times.

North feared the worse as he approached the pooka.

"Ha! He is still with us! Bunny is a real tough guy, no?" said North smiling. Good news, at last "c'mon, Jack! We have to hurry! I need you to take Sophie, lets go!"

Jack saw little Sophie moaning cuddled against Bunny. She looked so tiny next to the Guardian. Her right cheek was bleeding a little.

"Sophie, it's me, Jack. You're OK now" he said in a soft voice, blowing a blue snowflake towards her face. "Do you want to go and see Santa's workshop?"

"Yey! Wok-chop!"Sophie jumped into Jack's arms smiling and North carefully lifted Bunny up. They all went through the portal.

"Medical team" said North, the moment the stepped into the workshop.

Five or six yetis in white scrubs took Bunny and another one took Sophie from Jack's arm.

"Doggie!" said Sophie cuddling the yeti.

Jack found himself smiling, but the smile didn't touch his eyes.

"I need to go and get Jamie too. We can't leave him exposed. They're still out there and it's me they want."

"Did Ania tell you that?" asked North, worried.

"Yes. All that charade was just to get me. That Ania chick took a fancy on me and I guess the other two think I'll be a great addition to their little group. Cold, pain, sorrow... what goes better that cold and dark? I heard something similar from Pitch. Maybe that's where they got the idea from." answered Jack.

North looked very worried now. This meant the would attack again.

"You are right, Jamie will not be safe. Bring him here. I'll talk to Manny and we'll we'll go and get Tooth and Sandy as soon as you come back." said North. "Oh, and Jack, please just get Jamie and come straight back here. So much has happened tonight, if I'd lost you too..."

Jack gave the Russian man a hug. They both held back tears.

"I know. Don't worry, I'll be quick as a bunny!" said Jack and they both laughed. Last time the winter boy said that, it hadn't turned out too well.

* * *

Jack saw a couple of police cars outside of Jamie's house. They knew Sophie was gone. He entered through his favorite window and found Jamie sitting on his bed, sobbing.

"Jamie, c'mon we gotta go now!" said Jack. There was no time to explain. He didn't want to think about what Tooth and Sandy were going through right now and he just wanted to make sure that Jamie was safe before he could go and get his family reunited again.

"Jack, someone took Sophie. I tried to tell you guys, but you were busy fighting those people...!" said Jamie, his big brown eyes blurry with tears.

"Sophie's fine. We saved her, she's at North's now. I need to take you there as well" said Jack, pulling Jamie by his arm.

Downstairs, Amanda heard Jamie's voice. She knew her son was talking to Jack, his imaginary friend.

"I'm going to go and check on him" she said to the police officer sitting next to her and headed to Jamie's room.

Amanda looked awful. Her cheeks were sunken and her eyes were crying without tears.

"Are you OK, Jamie?" she asked, entering the room.

"Mom! Great news! Sophie's OK! She's at Santa's workshop!" said Jamie smiling. Amanda held back a sob.

"Jamie, baby, your sister is not at Santa's workshop. Some bad person took her, but we're going to get her back real soon" she said.

"Jamie, we really gotta go. Tell her she shouldn't stay here either. It's not safe." said Jack, lifting Jamie by the waist and walking to the window. If the Algea came he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat them by himself.

"Mom, you shouldn't stay here either, it's not..."

"Jamie, how are you doing that?" asked his mom, seeing him float in mid air.

"It's Jack Frost, he's taking me to Santa's workshop as well!" said Jamie.

And then, something incredible happened. Amanda grabbed Jack by his hoodie.

"You're not taking my son, too!" she said menacing. She thought he was a ghost or something, but she was so full of pain and adrenalin that she couldn't care less. Nothing was scarier than the thought of loosing Jamie too.

She gasped when Jack turned around and she saw his pale face, but she didn't let go of the hoodie.

Jacks eyes were wide with surprise.

"You can see me... but you're a grown up... how can you see me?" whispered Jack, more to himself than to anyone else.

Jamie's mouth was wide opened.

"Because we're family" said the kid.

"What?!" asked Jack

"We just found out today. We're Abigail's last descendants. That most be why she can see you." answered Jamie.

"That's... WOW!" said Jack. Under different circumstances he would have been thrilled, but at that point he just felt even more responsible for the woman and child standing in front of him.

"Sophie" said Jack to his sphere. "She's at Santa's workshop playing with an elf. Can you see her?"

But to Amanda, the sphere remained solid blue.

"No" she said. She was so confused she didn't know what to think anymore.

"We don't have time for this. Listen" Jack said to Jamie's mom "it's dangerous here. I need to take Jamie to keep him safe. You should go and stay somewhere else as well. I'll bring your kids back when it's safe. I'm sorry, but I can't take you to a place you can't see, otherwise I would've taken you too."

"Please don't take Jamie!" the woman cried sitting on the bed. It was too much and her legs couldn't hold her weight any longer. Jack knew the feeling.

"Hey" he said, sitting next to her and holding her hand "I'm the good guy. I protect the children, that's my job, that's why I'm here. Your kids will be safe and you'll have them back soon. I promise." he said, giving her one of his dazzling smiles.

"See, white teeth, not like the Jack Frost from that movie!" said Jamie. He might as well had stabbed Jack in the chest. Tooth...

"We really have to go. You get out of here as well. The police is no match for these people. I... am no match for these people." Jack said, taking Jamie and opening a portal.

"Be safe. I'll bring them back soon" he said, before he disappeared with Jamie.

Jamie's mom stayed sitting on the bed. She was confused, but she had hope. She chose to believe that Sophie was at Santa's workshop playing with an elf and that Jamie had just flown out the window with Jack Frost, who turned out to not be an old man or a snow monster after all. She decided she'll stay with her mom until the kids returned.

* * *

**Sorry, this chapter was more for my benefit than yours. That's why we needed to go to the "Jamie and Jack are related" canon. I needed to explain to Jamie's mom what was happening because I'm a mom and if my kids disappeared like that I would certainly break and I didn't want to finish this story with "Jack took Jamie to visit his mom at the loony house." :p**

**We'll try to rescue Sandy and Tooth next chapter. Oh, and I need to write another action chapter and I just discovered that I hate them, it's just too hard, it gives me headache. So I guess I'm just a fluff writer, but since I put the characters in this mess I have to get them out. Keep the reviews coming to encourage me, please. I'm not even joking. This is not me begging for reviews, this is me asking you to stop me from not writing this out of laziness.**


	17. The plan

**Thanks everyone for the support. The emails really encouraged me to work on this. It just took me three days to figure out how this thing would actually play out. I kept having very lame ideas and then I though of something that can't happen for at least 2 chapters and I was like obsessed with that, I couldn't think about anything else. **

**Thanks to Taeng for pointing out that Jack should be angry that they took Tooth. He was, I think I failed to convey the feeling. I've very slightly modified chapter 15 just to explicitly say in the end that Jack was angry and ready to go after the Algae on his own and that he only broke down after North stoped him.**

* * *

Ania opened her eyes slowly. She was at Pitch's lair, her head rested on Akhos legs. His brother was caressing her long, golden hair.

"Did we get him?" she asked excited, sitting up.

"No" said Lupe, angry. "This useless bitch moved him out of the way." she said, kicking Tooth.

"We had to go, Ania. You were both injured and your boyfriend got really angry when we took his little friend over there." Akhos said, pointing at the Guardian of Memories.

"And she sacrificed herself for him?" Ania asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, she did" said her sister, smiling in understanding.

The blond Goddess stood up and walked towards Tooth, who was laying broken on the floor, covered in her own blood. Ania put her hands on the Guardian's head, her nails digging into the fairy's skin. It didn't take the triplet long to find what she was looking for.

Ania was inside Tooth's memories now. She could almost feel Jack's cold touch on her back, the goosebumps on her waist. The memory was so vivid, so treasured, that she could almost taste his sweet minty breath. It made her want Jack even more.

"It's OK, we can use her" said Ania with an evil smile. A crystal dagger appeared in her hand. "This will only hurt a little bit" she said to Tooth.

Sandy, who was chained to the wall, cringed when he heard Tooth scream, as the dagger's handle filled with the fairy's blood.

Akhos took the Sand Man to another room. He stretched his arm trying to reach Tooth and she did the same, but to no avail. She tried to call out his name, but she didn't have enough life in her to make a sound. Her consciousness slowly faded away, and she went to a cold place, where there was nothing but Jack and his arms around her waist.

* * *

Jack and Jamie got to the North Pole and found North at his office, checking his books.

"Jack! Jamie! I was getting worried" said the Russian man "what took you so long?"

"Something awesome happened!" said Jamie excited "Jack is our uncle and my mom SAW him!"

"His mom saw you?!" North asked.

"Yes, and she was crying. I had to tell her what was going on, that's why I took long"

"But, how?" North still couldn't believe that a grown up had seen Jack.

"I don't know, apparently they're my sister's descendants or something. There's just too much going on right now, can we just figure that one out later?" asked Jack.

North nodded.

"Jamie, please go with the elves, they'll take you to Sophie" said North.

Jack gave Jamie a big hug before letting him go.

"I love you, Kiddo" he said, punching Jamie in the arm.

"I love you, uncle Jack" said Jamie as he walked away.

Jack smiled. Uncle Jack. That would take a while getting used to.

"How's Bunny?" asked Jack after the boy had left the room.

"He's still with us" said North trying to hide his feelings "the wound has been hard to treat. That was not ordinary sword, no? Good that Bunny is not ordinary either."

"Is he going to be OK?" asked Jack, worried.

"I think so. I may have found the answer earlier, we have to wait and see" answered North.

"So... What's the plan?" asked Jack. He was anxious to go and help his friends.

"I have one, I just don't like it" said the Russian man. Jack gave him a knowing look.

"I don't like it either, but it's our best shot" said Jack.

"If they get to you, they will turn you against us."

"I know. But you'll have more Guardians to fight them" said Jack "I'm not afraid, I trust you. I know you'll find a way to bring me back. Besides, they would have to catch me first and I'm not planning on making it any easy" said Jack.

A loud noise made them both look out the window. Hundreds of little warrior fairies were waiting outside.

"Baby Tooth!" said Jack smiling. She flew to him, chirping frantically trying to tell them something.

"Jack" whispered North "they lost the connection with Tooth. They can't hear her anymore" said North, looking like he had seen a ghost.

"Then we have to go right now." said Jack. She was just weak, he told himself, she wasn't dead, she just couldn't be. They just had to hurry and she'd be alright.

"The fairies will go with you. They can help you more than me" said North.

"No. Tooth didn't want them to fight the Algae or she would have taken them to the battle earlier. She most have had her reasons." said Jack.

Baby Tooth stood in front of him, defiant. She chirped something Jack couldn't understand, but North could.

"Baby Tooth says she's the one in charge now. The fairies are coming with us. They owe it to Tooth to try and save her before it's too late." translated North.

Jack couldn't say no to that. And he knew he would need all the help he could get.

"OK" he said "North... if they get me, just break my staff. Do keep the pieces, please" said Jack winking.

* * *

Jack flew around Burguess as if making a night round. The winter spirit lingered around Jamie's house and he was happy to see it empty. Amanda had gone away from the place. He wanted Jamie's mom to be safe too And he wished he could have taken her to North's.

The Guardian could feel the thick, heavy atmosphere and that sinister cold chilling his soul. The Algae were strong again. He cringed thinking that it was at Tooth's and Sandy's expense.

Tooth... a few hours ago he was in love, inhaling her sweet scent of flowers and honey, flying at the top of the world as their lips danced together. He could still feel the warmth of her hug, the softness of her feathers against his skin. He imagined what it would have been like to hear her saying those three words, the words he knew she was about to say before he stopped her. He regretted being a coward. He regretted assuming that they had all eternity to be together.

And then he heard Ania's voice.

"Hello, Jacky. Did you miss me?"

* * *

**Trivia: I had actually forgotten about the little fairies. But don't worry, I'll make it work as if they weren't on chapter 15 on purpose ;)**


	18. Rescue

Jack put his hand in the pocket of his hoodie and squeezed the green feather inside it. He was more worried about Sandy's and Tooth's safety than his own but it didn't help that hundreds of unnamed little fairies, precious pieces of Tooth, were about to risk their lives for him as well.

"I've missed you terribly" he said to Ania with the best smile he could master "why don't you come and give me another kiss? I'm sure the last one blew you away!"

"I don't even know what she sees in you" said Lupe, rolling her eyes.

"Now, where's the other Guardian? The fat one?" asked Akhos.

"Trying to figure out what the hell you did to Bunny" said Jack.

"The rabbit is still alive?!" asked Akhos surprised.

"Don't underestimate your enemies, Akhos" The winter boy was gaining time, that was the plan after all.

"I don't. Don't worry, if you're tricking us the old man won't get too far. You yourself will help us track him down and kill him" said Akhos smiling confident.

"We'll see about that! Now, I understand why she wants me, obviously" the Guardian said, pointing at Ania "but what do you have against the Guardians? Why would you want to kill them?"

"Jack, Jack, Jack without hope and dreams and whatever else you guys are about, it would be so easy for pain and sorrow to take over" said Akhos.

"Now, what is it you're pretending to be doing here, all by yourself?" asked Lupe.

"You really do underestimate your enemies, don't you? Who said I'm here by myself?" replied the Guardian and Baby Tooth flew to his side.

Both Akhos and Lupe laughed.

"Your pet? Is that all you have, Jacky?" asked Lupe maliciously.

Jack didn't answered for a second. Something was off. Ania didn't laugh. She was quiet, too quiet. After the show she put up earlier, the Goddess being quiet had to be a bad thing.

"Ania, sweetheart, did the cat eat your tongue?" asked Jack. His suspicions were confirmed when Akhos gave his sisters an angry look.

"Are you worried about me, Jacky?" Ania asked.

"Not in the slightest, no" said Jack.

"Enough chit-chat! Akhos, just get this idiot and let's get out of here!" said Lupe.

Akhos flew towards Jack, but before he could get to him, a horde of fairies covered the sky over Jack's head.

Akhos looked surprised at first, but then he laughed.

"This is going to be fun..." the God said.

* * *

North heard the three voices in his sphere. That was his queue.

The Guardian entered Pitch's lair with four of his yetis. As Santa suspected, they found three passages at the entrance. Phil, the yeti, entered a tunnel by himself, and so did North. The other two yetis entered the third tunnel.

North had never seen Pitch's lair, but he didn't think the decor was the Boogeyman's style. He entered a lavish room, decorated with gold curtains and antique Greek furniture. In the center of the room there was a big fountain, featuring a naked girl drinking the flowing water.

North walked across the room into another passage and what he found was completely different. It was damp and cold and there were cells carved on the stone, locked with thick metal gates.

Wherever the Guardian looked, he could see torture devices, some he knew about and some he didn't even want to think what they would be used for. He thought about Tooth and Sandy and he felt sick to his stomach.

North walked down the long corridor and found a small room. His heart stopped when he found green feathers covered in blood laying on the floor. Toothie...

"TOOTH!" He called out. "TOOTHIE, ARE YOU HERE?!"

He heard a faint voice calling him back. She was alive. North breath a sight of relief and he ran as fast as he could towards the voice.

"TOOTHIE! WHERE ARE YOU?" He yelled again, running down the long corridor, banging on some of the metal doors.

"In here..." said the faint voice.

"Toothie, stand back!" said the Guardian of Wonder kicking the metal door open.

He was not prepared for what he saw. Tooth was laying in a pool of her own blood, her face swollen and bruised and covered in small, deep cuts. One of her wings was opened in a weird angle and North was sure it was broken in several places.

"Toothie..." he said getting closer. He was afraid to touch her, he didn't want to hurt her any further. She gave him a little smile and closed her eyes again.

He heard footsteps outside and readied his swords. He saw a shadow and he was ready to attack, when heard a familiar voice.

"Mchamneko!" said Mark, the yeti. Both yetis, Mark and Tom, were standing outside Tooth's cell.

"Did you find Sandy?" North asked. The yetis looked down and shook their heads.

"Mark, get Tooth out of here. Tom, come with me, we have to find Sandy and Phil quickly, I don't know how much time we have" said North.

* * *

Akhos didn't back down. He flew towards Jack in spite of the little fairies. And then, Baby Tooth ordered them to attack.

Just like their queen's, the little fairies wings became razor sharp when they spun around at high speed.

Akhos smile faded when he saw himself surrounded by the little fairies hitting him from every direction, too fast for him to just disappear.

"Wow! You gals are awesome!" said Jack excited, smiling at Baby Tooth.

The girls were attacking all three Gods and Jack was just watching, making sure the ones that did get hit wouldn't fall on the ground. None of them seemed seriously injured.

And just when the Guardian of Fun thought this was going to be easy, just as he was thinking that Tooth was silly not to bring them to battle earlier, Lupe created a twister right in front of herself. The little fairies' wings were not strong enough to fight the wind and they were getting sucked in.

The triplets could also control the weather, that's why they wanted Jack.

* * *

Mark gently lifted Tooth up and headed outside. He opened a portal to the workshop.

The yeti laid Tooth down in a bed in the medical room. Bunny was awake, he was being looked after by another yeti.

"Toothie... Is that Tooth?" he asked the yeti.

"Wekatona!"

But Bunny couldn't speak yeti. He tried to get up, but the yeti pined him down. The angry Guardian tried to fight but he was too weak and every movement intensified the sharp pain on his side.

"Is she going to be OK?" he asked, worried and defeated.

"Chotyanka" said the yeti with a shoulder shrug.

**I do like reviews, you know ;)**


	19. Tooth

**Thank you all for the reviews and support. Keep them coming ;)**

Akhos looked at Lupe and smiled.

"Did you really think that a bunch of hummingbirds would stop us?" the God said laughing "c'mon Jack, it will barely give you a headache" said Akhos, stretching his hand to the Guardian. "You have nowhere to run and you know you can't beat us. I very much prefer to do this the easy way, Ania will get angry if I hurt you and she's a pain when she's angry."

Jack looked at Lupe and her mini tornado, and the little fairies fighting to escape it. He felt powerless. He had to find a way to get them out of there. He had to buy North some more time.

A cold, gentle breeze caressed his checks, comforting him. Jack smiled.

"You Gods and your big egos!" said Jack "you know, Lupe, controlling the wind is one thing, but befriending it... You see, your friends are always on your side" said Jack and a cold wind blew on Lupe's direction, dissolving her twister and helping the little fairies land gently on the ground.

Lupe looked murderous. Akhos, on the other hand, was pleased.

"So you will be an asset after all, boy" said the God.

Jack smile, proud of himself, but the celebration was short lived as he felt invisible chains closing around his body.

* * *

North and Tom, the yeti, kept running through the corridors, picking through metal gates. The Guardian of Wonder was getting increasingly anxious. He knew this was taking too long and he wasn't sure how much time Jack would be able to give him. "At least they won't hurt him" he kept telling himself. He wasn't happy about sacrificing the winter boy, but really, what choice did they have? Sandy and Tooth were running out of time.

"SANDY!" North cried. He hoped Sandy could guide them with his sand.

"SANDY, WHERE ARE YOU?"

North heard a faint moan. For a second he was excited, but then he remembered that Sandy couldn't really moan.

The Guardian found the metal door opened. What was left of Pitch was hanging by his arms in the center of the room. His shoulders were obviously dislocated and his face and body were a bloody mess, but North recognized him by the yellow eyes that were staring straight at him.

The Guardian didn't hesitate. No one deserved that fate, not even Pitch.

The Boogeyman looked at Santa, his life long enemy, as he broke the chains holding him. Black was surprised. He couldn't say he would have done the same, although he would have probably ended North's life instead of leaving him there to die slowly. Yes, he would have done that. He was the kind of man who liked the job done. Clean. The Algae should learn that. Leaving your enemies alive is a risk. If he survived this, he would make sure to teach them that lesson.

The Russian man put Pitch on his shoulder without saying a word and returned to his search for Sandy.

"Kaeakr" said Phil's voice through North's sphere. The yeti had found the Guardian of Dreams.

Sandy didn't look much better than Tooth. One of his arms was broken and he was missing nails. His face was swollen and deep cuts were still leaking golden sand. As soon as he saw North, the image of a tooth appeared above his head.

"She'll be fine, we've got her" said North.

Sandy smiled in relief. After what he saw, he had feared the worse.

* * *

Baby Tooth ordered the fairies to attack and the triplets were surrounded once more. The chains around Jack's body disappeared after Baby Tooth hit Akhos straight in the face.

"Go, Baby Tooth!" said the winter spirit as the little fairy flew to his side.

"Enough!" yelled Akhos, enraged, and suddenly the thick, dark fog covered them.

Jack couldn't see any of the little fairies, he couldn't see his own hands, but he could feel Baby Tooth standing on his shoulder. Jack knew it was game over.

"Jack, we got them, they're fine, get out of there!" cried North's voice through Jack's blue sphere.

Jack smiled. He knew what he had to do.

"Tell them to fly up" the winter spirit whispered to Baby Tooth.

"North, describe Tooth's injuries" he said.

"What?!"

"Just do it!" cried the winter boy.

As North described Tooth's state, Jack kept getting increasingly angry. He imagine Akhos hurting his sweet Tooth, and Ania's cruel smile when the fairy screamed in pain. He really wanted to hurt somebody and he felt his body shaking with rage, until a ray of blue light covered everything, turning the fog to ice.

Jack flew away at top speed and he saw the fairies do the same. "Home" he said opening a portal.

The Algae were left lying on the pavement, covered in small cuts from the ice. Both sisters were bleeding in the exact same places.

* * *

"North, is that Pitch?!" asked Bunny, who was sitting up on his bed.

"Bunny! It is so good to see you better. How do you feel?" asked Santa, smiling.

"I'm fine, what happened to them?" asked the pooka.

"The Algae took them. But they will be fine now, no?" said North.

Bunny saw Tooth opening her eyes. She looked awful.

"North, where's frostbite?" he asked.

"I'm praying that he is in the Globe room. I'll be back." replied the Russian man.

North walked to the Globe room anxious. He wanted his family to be reunited again and he feared that the Algea may have gotten to the winter boy. He had suddenly lost connection with Jack and he suspected the boy's sphere was broken.

The Russian man smiled when he saw the winter spirit, panting and leaning on his staff.

"Jack! You made it!" said North, wrapping the boy in a bone crushing bear hug.

"Where is she?" asked Jack. He was anxious to hold Tooth in his arms, to tell her that he loved her.

"In the medical room. I have to warn you, it's a bit painful to look at." said North.

"I don't care. She's here, that's what matters" said Jack.

To their surprise, a limping Tooth entered the room.

"Jack?" she said. Her voice was like music to her winter boy.

Jack flew to her and touched his forehead to hers.

"Are you OK?" he asked. She giggled.

North said something about checking up on Sandy and left the room.

"I'm better than OK" she said.

Jack pulled away, just enough to look into her magenta eyes.

"Tooth" he said, caressing the feathers around her ears "I love you. I need you to know that"

"I love you, too" she said, smiling.

Jack gently pressed his lips against her smile and their lips danced. He felt his insides ache when he realized she didn't smell of flowers anymore. She smelled like blood. He didn't care, really. His sweet, soft Tooth was in his arms and he was dancing on a cloud because she loved him back.

All Jack really wanted was to hold her tight against his body and feel the warm, soft feathers against his skin. He was using all of his restraint to keep the kiss soft and gentle, afraid of hurting her. But Tooth was not making it any easy. She was purposely making the kiss passionate, very different from their first, innocent kiss. She caressed his hair and his neck and her tongue brushed his lower lip, asking for entry. He very happily let her in. And in that moment, he realized all too late that this kiss didn't taste like honey. It tasted like poison.

* * *

**OK** **be honest- who saw that one coming? I did give you clues ;)**


	20. Cold Poison

**C'mon! There were heaps of clues!**

**CH17 Ania says "it's OK, we can use her" and does something to Tooth that apparently required taking a little blood sample ;)**

**CH18 The "triplets" fight Jack, but Ania is quiet and obviously taking the back seat. When Jack points it out, Akhos looks angry at both Ania and Lupe. Ania pops up for a second and then takes the back seat for that chapter and the next.**

**CH19 both sisters are injured in exactly the same places. Weird, isn't it? And then of course Tooth is super injured and she's still strong enough to walk AND in the mood for passionate kisses? Tongue kisses? From innocent Tooth? I think not.**

* * *

Jack pushed her away, but he knew it was too late. His head was burning already.

"NORTH! IT'S ANIA! GET THEM OUT!" he managed to scream before the pain brought him to his knees.

Ania's instinct was to go after North, but she stayed with Jack.

"Don't worry, let the fat man go. We'll go after them together. It will be fun!" said the Goddess.

Good. She was letting North go. The kids and Bunny and Sandy would be safe.

Jack felt so stupid. He knew something was wrong and he kept going. He was so excited to have Tooth in his arms again, that he ignored the warning signs and convinced himself that this was Tooth.

Jack was forced to close his eyes as the pain intensified. His head felt as if it was splitting in two. He heard Ania's cruel laugh.

"It'll be over soon Jacky, dear. Soon you'll be all mine"

And Jack's chest hurt more than his head when he had his last thought as himself. If Tooth was still alive, and she had to be, she just had to; if she was still alive, Ania would make Jack kill her.

* * *

North froze for a second. He should have known Tooth couldn't have walked the distance between the medical room and the globe room. She wasn't good on her feet even under normal circumstances.

And now they had lost Jack. North was fuming. He was so proud of the boy. The winter spirit had been so brave and so clever, risking himself against enemies he knew he couldn't defeat and still finding a way out in the nick of time. And now loosing him like this.

He ran through the corridor, screaming instruction to the yetis in Russian, not that he thought Ania couldn't speak Russian, but he usually forgot his English when he was mad.

He entered the room where Jamie and Sophie were.

"Santa" jumped the little girl, hugging his leg. North picked her up without even looking at her.

"C'mon Jamie, we have to go!" said the Guardian, grabbing Jaime by his waist and opening a portal. "The warren"

North and the kids appeared in front of Bunny's bedroom. It wasn't so much a bedroom, but a cave hand carved in the mountain. The walls were solid stone. There was a wooden chair, a wooden bed and a table. The bed linen patterns reminded Jamie of the Mayas or the Aztecas.

"You two stay here. I'll send some yetis over soon" said Santa, stepping out of the room.

"North, wait! What's happening? Where's Jack?" asked Jamie, his big brown eyes staring straight at North's blue ones.

"There's no time now, Jamie. I'll come back and tell you what's happening. I promise" said North, closing the door behind him.

North ran to the warren's entrance, where he knew the others would come out. He looked at Sandy fiercely as he approached them.

The Sand man was laying on a hospital bed. North picked him up by the neck and banged him against the wall. North's face was inches from the golden man's.

"Oi!" said Bunny.

"Tooth was an impostor" said North, still looking straight into Sandy's eyes.

Bunny's mouth fell opened. He readied his boomerang.

"Show me" said North, squeezing Sandy's neck tighter.

Sandy formed an image above his head. It was very elaborate, unlike his usually cartoonish images. North was sitting on a chair, next to a very ornate bed, too big for the small girl laying on it. North was reading the book on his lap and the little girl was smiling happily.

"Maria" said North, letting go of the Sand Man.

"I'm sorry, Sandy. I needed to make sure." said North, helping Sandy back on his bed.

"Ania disguised herself as Tooth" said North. "Jack made it home, and I left him alone with her. He's one of them now" said North, looking at the floor.

"Yeah, I can clearly see how that was your fault" said Bunny sarcastically "don't beat yourself up, we all know they're in love, we would've left them alone too. You couldn't know that she wasn't the real Tooth"

Sandy nodded in agreement.

"What about him?" asked Bunny, pointing at Pitch, who was unconscious on his bed. The yetis were keeping the Boogeyman asleep to help him with the pain.

"I think it's fair to say that if he tries to kill us it will not take us by surprise" said North.

"So, where do you think they're keeping Tooth?" asked Bunny.

Sandy and North looked at each other.

"Bunny... we looked everywhere. There were feathers and blood, lots of blood. But no Tooth." said North, avoiding Bunny's gaze.

Sandy looked at the floor as he showed them the scene that had been haunting him for hours. Above his head, the other two Guardians could see Ania's nails digging into Tooth's scalp, the dagger appearing in her hand. They saw the triplet stabbing Tooth on the back and the dagger filling with the fairy's blood as she screamed in agonizing pain. They saw Tooth stretching her hand to reach Sandy's and her unfocused eyes closing slowly, falling into unconsciousness.

A single tear fell from Bunny's cheek as he took a little blue and yellow flower from the stone wall.

"Please tell me that we at least saved Sophie" said the pooka.

"Sophie is alright. Her and Jamie are in your room right now." said North.

Bunny smiled and closed his sad eyes. When he opened them, they were fierce and determined.

"So, how do we get Snowflake back?" asked the Guardian of Hope.

"We will find a way" said North "for now let's just get the two of you better, no?"

* * *

North opened the wooden door to find Jamie, cuddling a sleepy Sophie.

"You did come back!" said the boy, smiling.

"I gave you my word, no?" said North "The Algea are triplets, son and daughters of the Greek Goddess Eris."

"I know who she is" said Jamie.

"The you can imagine that these three are not good news. One of them made it to the workshop. I had to get you two out of there, no? Jamie, I need to warn you. If you see Jack... I need you to run and hide. Jack is not himself anymore, they have made him evil."

Jamie gasped.

"But you can get him back, can't you?" he asked.

"I don't know how, but I will try to find the way." North though for a moment. He was sure one of his books would have the answer, but he had a mountain of books to go through. It may also be good to give the boy something to do. "Maybe you can help us, Jack says you like books. Would you help us find a way to get him back?"

"Yes!" said Jamie.

* * *

Jack opened his eyes. Their usual icy blue was gone, replaced by bright green, just like Ania's. She smiled. The green eyes suited him.

"Ania" he whispered in his low, sexy voice.

She threw herself in his arms and he smiled. Their lips met in a passionate, urgent kiss. His hands were moving around her exquisite figure. He couldn't get enough of her. He put her against the wall, one hand on her hip, the other hand on her leg, which was wrapped around his waist. Their tongues were desperately playing with each other. Ania was so warm, no, she was so hot, it was making him dizzy.

He was cold, just like she imagined him to be. His touch was leaving behind delicious goosebumps. It was such a turn on! She was running her fingers down his back, scratching him ever so slightly, feeling his lean, yet strong body under the blue hoodie. He seemed to like it because little moans seemed to escape from his mouth during the brief moments she took to breath, making her smile. This kiss was so different from the one she saw on the fairy's memory. It was so much better.

* * *

**Yeah, I almost threw up writing that. I almost want to kill that bitch off but I made her a freaking Goddess, didn't I? Can't kill her now :|**

**I want to thank all my regulars for your awesome reviews and feedback FlockFighter101, Everlak-Forever12, Alex, Taeng... And specially MagicGold34 and ObsidianLove because your reviews for last chapter made me laugh out loud. Thank you for making my day ;)**


	21. Allies

**Yey! 100 reviews -I just discovered I'm a review s***t, so bear with me- I wonder if we an make 200 before this thing ends ;) which will be soon :(**

**This chapter is dedicated to the birthday girl IceSteam. Happy Birthday! Thank you for following my story, it means a lot to me**.

* * *

In the improvised medical room at the warren, Sandy and Pitch slept while Bunny and North were desperately going through books, trying to find a way to bring Jack back.

Pitch opened his eyes.

"Where...? Oh, the warren... I thought your workshop was your headquarters. I like it, it's outdoorsy" said the Boogeyman, looking around and noticing the two missing Guardians. "Are the love birds taking a stroll?"

"How do you...?" asked Bunny, who had been eyeing Pitch cautiously since he woke up.

"Her cell was next to mine. I could hear her moaning and calling Frost's name. I seriously expected more from the Queen of the Fairies Arm... Oooh, she's not taking a stroll" Pitch said smiling, realizing the hint of pain on Bunny's face. "She didn't make, did she? I will pretend that I'm not happy because I owe you one." he said, pointing at North "disappointing, though, I thought a warrior queen would be stronger than that, I guess she was just a teenage girl after all."

Bunny got up from the bed and was in front of Pitch's face in less than a second. North intervened.

"I'm glad you are feeling better Pitch" said North, grabbing Bunny by his arms and sitting him back on his bed. The pooka's side was leaking little drops of blood from his barely healed wound.

"I suppose thank you is in order" said Pitch nonchalantly.

"No one deserves to die like that. Not even you" said North.

"Fair enough. So, if the fairy is dead..." said the Nightmare King. Bunny cringed "what happened to Frost? Please don't tell me he killed himself too trying to rescue her."

"Why do you care?" asked Bunny.

"I care because we seem to have a common enemy, one neither of us can defeat on their own." said Pitch, ignoring Bunny and looking straight at North. "Nothing would please me more than teaching those triplets a lesson. Even if it means teaming up with you."

North considered for a second. They needed the help. They were two Guardians short and Bunny and Sandy were injured. Pitch was smart and powerful, he could be an asset.

"We would need to know that we can trust you, no?" said North.

Bunny's mouth fell open. The Guardian of Hope could not believe that their leader was actually considering this.

"I can't promise that I will risk myself to save you, but I give you my word that I won't try anything against you or the other Guardians. I still owe you one." said Black.

"Very well, then" said North.

"Are you out of your mind? This guy has tried to kill us for the last 500 years and now we're teaming up with him?! Who knows what dodgy business he's up to?" said Bunny, getting up from the bed once more.

"We need him and he needs us. It's the only way if we want to get Jack back and keep the kids safe." said the Russian man, staring at Bunny.

"Get Jack back? From where?" asked Pitch.

"They made him one of them" said the Guardian of Wonder.

Pitch was puzzled. Why would they want Frost? Sure the winter spirit was powerful, but his powers were nothing compared to Algae's.

"Why would they do that?"

"Ania decided that he'll be her partner" said North.

Pitch considered for a moment. Then, he smiled.

"This is a good thing" Pitch said.

"How in the bloody hell is this a good thing?! You said you were on our side!" growled Bunny.

"Because Ania will be too distracted with her new toy. They are lustful and they are very easily distracted when it comes to physical pleasure, so we won't have to worry about her at all. If Frost is under her spell he will be happy. We know he can't control his powers, he's only a threat when he's angry. So we won't have to worry about him, either."

"How do you know that?" asked Bunny.

"I study my enemies, pooka. The only reason you got away last time is because I was counting to face four Guardians, not five. Next time you won't be so lucky."

Bunny was about to throw his boomerang at Pitch when North caught his hand.

"Pitch is right, we can use this to our advantage" said North " but I need to remind you that Jack is still a Guardian and that you are not to harm him either."

"Ooh but we don't have to harm him, just brake his staff. I'm not volunteering, though. Whoever touches Frost would have to deal with Ania's wrath"

North and Bunny looked at each other. They never thought Pitch knew so much about them. This was a enemy they could not underestimate.

* * *

Jack's lips moved from Ania's mouth onto her neck, kissing and biting her perfect skin while his hands tried to find a way to get her out of her tunic.

Ania opened her eyes. There was nothing she wanted more than to loose herself with her incredibly sexy winter hellion, but she needed to test him first. She wanted to make sure that the poison worked before she put herself in a vulnerable position, before she was too distracted to think.

"Jacky" she said, holding back a moan "do you know what would be exciting?"

He didn't respond. Instead he blew his cold breath in her collarbone, sending shivers through her body and making her knees weak.

Ania realized she was already in a dangerously vulnerable position and she pushed him away from her.

"Let's trash this place!" she said, pulling him by his wrist.

She moved her free hand and an invisible force knocked the giant globe down, breaking it to pieces. The Goddess laughed as the control panel sparkled and objects flew around the room, shattering as they hit the ground.

Jack looked at her, disapprovingly.

"No. This isn't fun" he said.

Ania looked at him. The poison hadn't worked and she had to restrain Jack and take him with her. It was good she checked first. Just as Ania was about to wrap him with invisible chains he grinned.

"The toys! That he will care about! I'll show you were they are!" he said, pulling her close to him and kissing her passionately, before heading for the lifts.

Ania smiled. Her ice stallion was all hers.

* * *

The icy blue eyes were staring straight at hers.

"You're here" she said smiling. She was always glad to see him, but today she was even happier. She needed him.

"I belong here, where else would I be?" said Jack with his low, sweet voice as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hid his face on what she suspected to be his favorite spot, just between her neck and her shoulder.

He inhaled deeply, as he usually did when they hugged and she blushed a little thinking that he was trying to take in her smell of flowers.

He pulled away to look at her.

"I love you" he said simply.

"I know" she replied, smiling.

He slowly closed the gap between them, and his cold breath on her face made her feel alive. She needed him, because more than ever, she needed to feel alive.

Just before their lips touched, a dark, thick fog covered everything. She felt Jack slip through her fingers. He was falling. She tried desperately to find his hand, but there was only black fog.

"Tooth! Help me! I need you!" he screamed.

"Jack! Jack!"

"Tooth! Don't let her take me!"

She realized her eyes were closed and she tried with all her might to open her heavy eyelids, but they seemed glued shut. She had to help Jack. She had to warn him.

* * *

**Just in case you didn't get that, Tooth was dreaming. But in her dream she was becoming aware of what was going on and she was trying to wake up. She's not asleep. She's unconsious. On ch17, I told you she was unconscious dreaming about Jack, but I guess that was many days ago and it's hard to remember. It was a little cliffy but it doesnt matter, it will all become clear next chapter. **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I know you liked the shout out, so here I go again: FlockFighter101, Alex, IceSteam, MagicGold34, ObsidianLove and Taeng. Rjguzman318 welcome back and creatorX33- thanks for following!**

**And a special thank you to Everlak-forever12 for my 100th review. When I'm famous I'll send you an autographed first edition ;) [hey, one can dream. J K Rowling and Stephenie Meyer were also desperate housewives... I mean, stay at home moms]**

**Oops! I almost forgot about the Guests. Thanks to you too ;)**


	22. Coming back

**I'm kid of sad that we're getting to the end :(**

**********Is that normal?**

**********Mind-Creator welcome to this bumpy ride! Feel free to leave a review anytime you like ;)**

**********FlockFighter101 yep, you got it exactly right!**

* * *

Amanda opened the front door. Her husband looked like he hadn't slept since the night before, when their kids had been taken. His dark blond hair was messy and his green eyes were red from crying. He buried his sunken face in his wife's hair as he held her tight.

He was halfway around the world when he heard the news and he came back to Burgess as soon as it was possible.

"Have they called yet?" he asked.

"No, James, no one has called. I don't think this is about a ransom." she said.

She wanted to tell him about Jack, but she was afraid he would think grieve was driving her crazy. Sometimes she herself thought that.

"Then what is this about? I don't think it's about my job and it certainly can't be about yours" he said. His eyes looked wild.

"They're OK, James. I know they're OK. I just know it" she said. He hugged her again and they stayed like that for a long time.

* * *

"Tooth, you have to wake up, please" said Jack's sweet voice.

"If you don't wake up now, everything will be lost, Tooth" the voice continued.

She wanted to keep sleeping but the voice was nagging her, making her feel guilty.

"Tooth, I don't want to loose you forever" Jack kept saying.

"OK, Jack. I'm coming, I'm coming!" she said, annoyed.

She tried to open her eyes again, but they were still glued shut.

"C'mon Toothiana, you can do it. You're a warrior. You're a Queen. Surely you can command your own eyes to open." Tooth said to herself.

"But it's comfortable and warm here" said the other Tooth in her head.

"I have to help Jack!" said the first Tooth.

"But Jack is right here. And there's no pain. Remember the pain?"

Tooth touched her left shoulder, where the stab wound was.

"But the real Jack would loose me forever. _He_ may be lost forever." said Tooth, and the glue in her eyelids seemed to disappear.

The Guardian of Memories opened her eyes and she immediately regret it. The bright light seemed to burn her pupils and she was forced to close her eyes again. And she was in pain. A lot of pain. The stab wound in her shoulder burned and the sharp pain on her side told her that some of her ribs were broken. It was very hard to breath.

Instinctively she tried to move her wings, only to discover that one of them was badly broken. There was no flying out of there for the Tooth Fairy.

The Guardian opened her eyes again, slowly getting used to the light, and her fuzzy brain started working. Light? There was no light at Pitch's lair. She must be somewhere else. She lifted her head up, examining her surroundings. She was in some sort of cave and she could see the small metal door containing her. If she could only get up...

Tooth tried to stand and a stark pain on her left knee warned her that walking wasn't a good idea either.

She dragged herself to the door. The lock wasn't strong at all. Under normal circumstances she would have flapped her wing and spun around and that little lock wouldn't have stopped her. But these were no normal circumstances.

'You have to try' she told herself. She had to stop Ania from getting to Jack. She had to get herself out of there soon because she knew her own life was slipping through her fingers. She prayed that all that time spent with Bunny paid off, because she probably only had one shot.

Tooth stood on her bad leg. The pain was intense, but it actually helped her, filling her body with adrenalin, gaining strength as she yelled. Her good leg kicked the metal door with all the power she had. The pain brought her down to the ground as, to her own surprise, the metal gate swung open.

Tooth dragged herself outside. She was in front of Jack's lake, in Burgess.

* * *

The Guardians and Pitch were looking through books trying to find a way to help Jack. Even Pitch agreed that having an extra person on their side would be useful, especially because Frost would be very angry when he found out that his little girlfriend was dead.

Both Pitch and Sandy were quickly getting better. They still had cuts and bruises but their faces were easily recognizable and they were in much less pain. Spirits heal fast and yeti medicine is stronger than human medicine. Bunny's wound, on the other hand was healing slowly, little drops of blood leaking from it with every sudden movement.

Jamie ran inside the room.

"I've found it! I've found the way to bring Jack back!" he said, jumping everywhere and shaking the book in his hands.

North took the book from the boy and read out loud:

... Gods of chaos, war and destruction can posses souls and render them evil at will, making the victim soul mirror the God's desires, slave to their bindings... Only an incorruptible, pure soul can return from this fate...

"Sounds like Jack, no?" North added smiling. Bunny and Pitch were not so sure.

North continued reading:

...Solely by the mercy of a mythical creature, of purity and kindness equal to the God's power.

"A unicorn" said Pitch and North at the same time.

"Where the Hell are we going to find a bloody unicorn?!" asked Bunny.

Sandy looked at him with a question mark over his head.

* * *

The workshop looked like a war zone. All the toys and machinery had been destroyed and there were small fires burning everywhere. Jack was holding the last surviving toy: a little stuffed Bunnymund.

"Oh, how sweet! It must be for Sophie!" said Jack, smiling mischievously.

"That is so cute, really" said Ania, taking it from Jack's hands and setting it on fire.

"Well, it'll certainly look better now!" Jack chucked.

Ania grabbed fistfuls of his hoodie and pulled him towards her to kiss him passionately. The smile left the hellion's face and it was replaced by pure desire. He wanted her, now. Ania's knees were weak again and the shivers running down her spine had nothing to do with the cold.

"Let's go home" Ania whispered in his ear. She'd finally have her ice stallion.

* * *

**And Toothiana, Queen of the fairies army rescues herself, thank you very much!**

**Oh my MiM! Thanks ObsidianLove. Cold Poison is an awesome name. I cannot believe I created a ship! I'm so excited!**

**So thanks to ObsidianLove's request, I'll just let Jack kill Tooth and live happily ever after torturing people with Ania. **

**Just kidding... Or am I? *insert evil laugh***


	23. The escape

**This one is a tad short. I don't want to break what happens next ;)**

* * *

Tooth dragged herself as far from the cave as she could, until exhaustion took over. She was trying to hide around the trees, desperately trying to contact her fairies to no avail. She was just too weak.

And then, she heard them.

"Oh, please no. Don't let it be them" she thought to herself.

"Ha! I won, I won!" said Cupcake jumping.

"Wh-what's that?" asked Caleb.

Pippa gasped.

"Oh my, oh my! It's the Tooth Fairy!" said Monty. He was shocked to see the most beautiful being he'd never seen in his life in that deplorable state. Who would want to do that to Tooth?

"Kids... I... need you... to... get away. Leave me... please" she didn't mean to whisper, but she didn't have anymore strength left. It was getting so hard to breathe.

"North" said Claude to his orange sphere.

* * *

A thick fog appeared outside of Pitch's lair and it slowly took the shape of two lovers kissing passionately. Ania's lips never left Jack's since they kissed at the North Pole.

"So, is this when I get to see your bed?" asked Jack with a lopsided grin.

Ania felt that weakness in her knees again. 'Yes, please!' screamed every fiber of her body. But the small part of her that remembered his face when he thought she was Tooth, the part that heard the most sincere, desperate 'I love you' from his lips, the part that knew that Jack wasn't really hers if not for her poison, that little part of her was scared. She needed to tie some loose ends first, before she fell head over heels for her winter hellion.

"We need to do something first" she whispered, kissing his ear.

"What would that be?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I need you to prove how much you want me" she whispered again, biting his neck "I need you to kill your ex for me."

"The Fairy? You are so twisted. I like it!" he said smiling.

"She's just on that cave. We'll do this quick and then I'm all yours" she said.

"I can't wait" he kissed her again, bitting her lower lip and pulling at it smiling.

Ania almost decided that Tooth could wait, but he pulled away and started walking towards the cave, leaving Ania standing on the spot, her knees too weak to walk.

"Um, Ania?" he called from inside the cave "she's gone"

Black fog materialized into Ania right next to him.

"What do you...?" Ania closed her eyes and said "Akhos, Lupe, the fairy escaped!"

"Hey, don't worry. She couldn't have gone too far, we'll find her. She doesn't know about me, remember?" said Jack, putting his hand on Ania's shoulder. "Toooooth!" he cried as dramatically as he could "Toothie, where are you?" They both chuckled.

* * *

"Do unicorns really exist? Wow! Wait till Cupcake hears this... She's gonna flip!" said Jamie.

"North" said Caleb's voice from North's sphere. He sounded scared and the Russian man's heart stopped for a moment. Pitch could feel the Guardian's fear, he could taste it and he couldn't help but smile.

"Are you alright?" North was afraid to even ask that question.

"Yes" said the sphere and Santa started breathing again. "It's the Tooth Fairy, we found her!"

North's fear returned.

"Get out of there now! That is not Tooth! It is a trap!" he yelled.

"This is the real Tooth!" this time it was Pippa's voice through the sphere. "She's also telling us to get away! North, you have to come quick. I think she's dying."

"I'm going to get the kids out of there" said North.

"I'll go with you, it could be a trap" said Pitch.

"I'm not going to let you go alone with him!" said Bunny, getting up from the bed.

Sandy also got up.

"No. You're all injured. If it's a trap..." said North.

"Then we'll loose you too and we can't afford to loose anyone else." said Pitch.

North had to accept defeat. "Burgess" he said into the portal and the four spirits went through it, appearing right in front of the children.

"Children, are you allright? Please run as fast as you can. Go home and stay away." said North.

Bunny kneeled down next to Tooth. She looked awful. Much worse than the fake Tooth. She was missing a lot of feathers and her face was bruised and swollen. she seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

"Toothie, how did you?" asked Bunny, holding her head in his arms.

"I... used... the kick... you taught... me" she said smiling.

"North! She's Tooth, she's the real Tooth!" said Bunny hugging her. His eyes welled with excitement.

"Oh Toothieeee! Where are you? It's me, Jack"

The celebration was short lived as the triplets and Jack entered the clearing where the Guardians and Pitch were.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" said Akhos, an evil smile crossing his face.

"Jack..." said North, looking straight into the boy's green eyes.

"North. Bunny. Sandy. Pitch? That's a surprise. Are you one of them now? Did North coerced you to stay in his house as well?" Jack said. He knew his words would hurt North. "Oh, there you are! Sorry I didn't recognize you Toothie. You look awful. I've been looking everywhere for you, you know?" he said, smiling devilishly.

Bunny readied his boomerang. There was no way he'd let Jack so much as touch his Tooth.


	24. Evil

**Popcorn ready? OK, let's do this!**

**BTW, apologies in advance, I want to please my readers, I really do, but we'll still have evil Jack because this would be a pretty lame fanfic if a herd of unicorns just happened to be grazing around the lake that day :D**

**Hopefully the mega cliffy will make you come back for more. ;p**

**This chapter has been edited thanks to Hanna's feedback, who thought the ending needed more punch. Thank you.**

**And it's been edited again thanks to ObsidianLove and Alexia04. Thank you for pointing out that some things weren't clear. I really have to stop proof reading these chapters while chasing and tickling a toddler to an Elmo's song.**

* * *

"Oh, little princess, you really wouldn't hurt me, would you?" said Jack smiling his lopsided smile.

"Don't doubt it for a second, Frostbite" said Bunny menacingly, standing up in front of Tooth. North and Sandy went to his side, blocking the fairy. Pitch stayed far away from them.

Jack and Ania chuckled.

"Isn't this charming?" asked Lupe.

"Yeah, they're a fluffy gang. I can't say I will miss them, though." he said, putting a hand on Lupe's shoulder, signaling that he had a new family now.

"Of course, they're only fluffy once you become an almighty Guardian just like them, because for 300 years I was nothing more than a nuisance. They never cared that I was alone. Especially that bitch" he said pointing at Tooth "she always had my answers and she never bother to help me. You think you're better than everyone else, don't you fairy? Well, you're useless! I was a kid and you failed me!" he said, looking straight into the magenta eyes he used to love.

A tear ran down Tooth's cheek. He was right, she had failed him. He needed her and she had every opportunity to talk to him, but she didn't because of her silly crush. She acted like a child, mnot a Guardian, and Jack paid for that mistake for 300 years.

The Algea were loving this, feeding from the Guardians pain, getting more and more powerful.

"And you!" the winter hellion continued, pointing at North with his staff "the leader of this group of egocentric idiots. You abandoned me! You knew I had died! You knew my sister was sad, she must've been! But you didn't care about me, did you? I was on the naughty list after all. Yep, an eternity of loneliness wondering who you are and what you're suppose to be doing seems like a good enough punishment for not eating your vegetables and pranking your friends" Jack was on fire, he wasn't really angry, he actually felt a weigh lifting up from his body.

North closed his eyes for a moment. He probably should have known that Jack had died. He should've tried to approach the kid, guide him and teach him what being a spirit was about. But ever since Maria, the Russian man had distanced himself from kids. He didn't know about Jack and the boy suffered in silence for 300 years because of him.

"And the mighty Kangaroo" the winter evil just kept going "everything is always about you, isn't? I have news for you: Christmas is more important than Easter, a snow day is more important than Easter! Nobody cares about your stupid boiled eggs! Kids only eat the chocolate ones their parents buy for them!"

Pitch was enjoying this more than he should. With a bit of luck he would end up getting rid of the Guardians and the Algae on the same day. He couldn't wait to see the Guardians ripping each other apart.

"But don't worry, you guys! After we're done with you, I will look after the children" said Jack, his face contorted by a evil smile. "I'll start with Sophie... She's at the warren, isn't she?"

Bunny looked at Jack straight in the eyes. No one would ever touch Sophie again. That was it. Frostbite was dead meat. The Easter Bunny threw his boomerang at Jack, too quick for the boy to react, but not too quick for Ania, who created a strong wind in front of her boyfriend. The boomerang landed on the floor in front of its master.

"Nice try, little rabbit. Is that all you've got?" said Ania.

"Plenty more where that came from" said the Guardian of Hope, throwing a handful of explosive googies at her.

The rest of the Guardians joined the battle, North decided to get Jack himself - how else could he make sure the boy was safe?- leaving Sandy fighting both Akhos and Lupe. To Sandy's surprise, Pitch flew to his side.

The nightmare king had power to rival the Gods, turning into a shadow before they could strike. Sandy was unstoppable with his golden whips stopping Akhos every attempt to wrap him or Pitch in black fog.

Jack was throwing ice at North with his staff, but the Russian man kept avoiding it, stopping the blue rays with his swords, every movement targeting the staff and not the boy. Jack was just not prepared for this battle. The old man was faster than he expected and truth be told, if North were trying to hurt him, he would have succeeded.

Bunny threw more explosive googies at Ania, the smoke blinding her. He had a shot and he took it. He threw a knife straight at the Goddess's chest and Jack saw the blade traveling in mid air from the corner of his eyes.

"Ania!" screamed the winter stallion, forgetting about North and flying to the triplet's aid.

"Jack, no!" said North grabbing the boy by the ankle.

Jack turned around, murder written on his face. He attacked North with his staff, making the Russian man land a few feet away from him. To Jack's relief, he heard Ania laughing in the background. Bunny's knife had gone straight to her heart but she just took it right off and she seemed unharmed.

"Hahaha. I'm a Goddess you idiot! Unlike you, I can never die!"

Jack looked at her and smile. She was so beautiful, so powerful, so deliciously evil. He couldn't wait to get rid of this idiots and start his new life with her. He flew to North to finish his handy work. An icicle was sticking out from the Russian man's shoulder and his head was bleeding copiously.

"Oh, North, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" said the Guardian of Fun, his voice sounded remorseful, but the grin never left his face. "Where does it hurt? Here?" he said stepping on North's injured shoulder, stabbing further with the icicle.

The old man grunted but did not scream. He was tough and he was not giving the Algea the satisfaction.

Pitch possessed a murder of crows, making them fly straight at Akhos's and Lupe's faces. He wanted the birds to take strips of their flesh off. He wanted the Algea to suffer as he had.

But the moment Lupe screamed in pain, Akhos's rage covered everything with black fog.

"Ania?" called Jack. Like the Guardians, he was unable to see anything.

"Right here" she said, snaking her arms around his waist.

The fog dissipated suddenly, revealing North, Bunny, Sandy and Pitch flying immobile, held by invisible chains.

"Did you really think you could win?" said Akhos, laughing "Jack, would you like to do the honor?" he said, smiling to the newest family member.

"It will be my pleasure" said Jack, smiling a dangerous smile as he approached Tooth, who was still laying on the same spot on the ground, unable to move.

"Jack! Don't!" said North desperately, making the triplets laugh "this is not you! You love her! Jack, please!"

Jack didn't even turn around to look at North. He didn't care. He would get revenge on the stupid fairy for abandoning him, and as if that wasn't enough he would get Ania's favor. He smiled at that last thought.

He was looking straight into Tooth's eyes. She didn't seem scared, just sad. It was troubling him. She should be scared, she was about to die.

"Jack..." Tooth whispered "I... want you...to know... I love you"

"That won't save you now!" Jack chuckled, turning around to look at Ania, who was smiling back at him. Boy she was perfect, unlike that stupid winged freak.

"I know" Tooth whispered again. "Forgive yourself. I... forgive you"

Jack looked straight at her, his eyes wild as he held his weapon with both hands.

"Aaaarhhhhh" scream the winter spirit, as he touched the staff on the ground with all his might, releasing all of his power.

The blue light from Jack's staff shone brightly over the lake's surface, ice covering everything.

* * *

**Thanks to Taeng, Alex, ObsidianLove, MagicGold34,EverlakForever12, IceSteam-hope you enjoyed your birthday- and Guest for your reviews and support.**


	25. Mercy

**Thank you to Avatar Kyoshi, IceSteam, RJguzman318, Alex, MagicGold34, Alexia04, ObsidianLove, and my two lovely Guests. You rock!**

**I've slightly edited chapter 24 thanks to Hanna's feedback -welcome to this crazy story, BTW- she thought the ending needed more punch, so I changed the last three lines. Thank you very much for the feedback ;)**

* * *

North opened his eyes slowly, blinded by the bright blue light. He could feel the sting from the small cuts around his face and arms, caused by the little pieces of ice the light brought with it.

His mouth fell open as he gasped. He saw Jack lying on the ground next to Tooth, both of them looked unconscious, or were they...? no, he didn't want to of think about that. They had to be unconscious. Pitch's laugh made North's head turn. The Nightmare king was floating immobile next to him, yet another Pitch was standing on the hill, free from the chains, laughing an evil laugh.

"Ania? Is that fear I smell?" said the Boogeyman on the hill.

"How?" whispered Lupe, covering her mouth with her hand, looking back and forth from the chained Pitch floating next to North, to the Pitch standing on the hill.

"What is it, Lupe, do you think you're the only one who can pull off this little trick?" said Pitch, opening his arms wide, as if showing her his body.

His laugh resonated all over the lake and he turned around to find two of his nightmare mares, one of each side of him. He patted one of them in the neck.

"So you are afraid of loosing your winter toy, aren't you? Isn't it sweet, how love blossoms in the most unexpected ways?" said Pitch, focusing on the mare he was caressing.

"Cut the act Pitch! You know your fearlings are not powerful enough to harm us!" said Akhos confident, putting his hand on Ania's shoulder.

"Or are they?" smiled Pitch, looking at Akhos in the eyes before turning into a shadow, only to reappear next to the triplets. "Don't you remember, Akhos? You did not think they were torturing me enough, did you? You gave them your power to make me suffer even more." said Pitch, turning into a shadow again, materializing next to Jack and Tooth's limp bodies.

More mares joined the first two, attracted by Akhos own fear. They may loose this time, because he and his sisters had unknowingly given Pitch powers beyond his own. Godly powers. The beasts yellow eyes were staring straight at his, feeding of his fear.

Pitch kicked Jack's arm. The boy didn't move.

"I knew the Guardians would give me the opportunity to make you afraid. All I had to do was wait. I can't say I'm not excited with this turn of events." he said, looking down on the ground, where the two Guardians' bodies laid.

"Akhos... is that true?" asked Lupe, her own fear attracting more fearlings.

But Akhos didn't have a chance to answer, as Pitch's shadow hit the back of one of his mares, causing all of them to charge at the Algae.

Ania tried to disappear into fog, but the fear paralyzed her and she screamed as the fearlings tugged at her body and pulled her towards Pitch's lair.

Lupe's eyes widened with terror seeing her sister being dragged away. She had never felt helpless before and she swallowed thick as the mares rounded her as well.

"Nooooo!" yelled Akhos "this cannot happen! We are Gods! Gods can't..."

But he was down through the hole under the broken bed before he could finish that sentence.

Sandy, North and Bunny landed on their bums with a thump, free from the chains imprisoning them. The other Pitch just disappeared.

"Thanks mate! That was bloody great!" said Bunny, dusting himself off.

Pitch just stared at him, nose wrinkled, as if he was looking at something disgusting.

"North" said the Nightmare King ignoring Bunny."Have no doubts, next time we see each other, we are enemies."

"I know. We're not afraid." answered the Guardian of Wonder.

"Oh, but you should be!" laughed Pitch, disappearing into the shadows.

"Are they...?" asked Bunny, looking at his friends' limp bodies.

Sandy gave a shoulder shrug.

North walked toward the two lovers, afraid of what he would find. He held Tooth's hand.

"Sandy! Bunny!" the Russian man called out, moving on to check on Jack.

* * *

Sandy entered Bunny's bedroom at the warren. Sophie was on Jamie's lap, her brother reading her a story.

"Sandy, what happened?!" asked Jamie, jumping off the bed and almost throwing Sophie on the floor.

Sophie cried, startled. Sandy showed Jamie a picture of a house, while he went to pick Sophie up.

"We're going home? Is it over?" asked Jamie.

Sandy nodded, as a dream sand bunny floated in the air, making the little girl giggle.

"But, what happened to Jack?"

Sandy shrugged, a question mark above his head.

* * *

Jack felt the light hitting his eyes unpleasantly. He instinctively tried to cover his face with his hands but he was unable to, as if his hands were... tied up?

Unwillingly he opened his ice blue eyes meeting North's worried ones.

"North? What the..?" said the winter boy. And the memory of what had just happened hit him like a ton of ice.

"Jack? Is that really you?" asked North, looking intently into the familiar blue eyes.

"Tooth? Is she? Did I?" he asked, his face contorted with pain and fear.

North smiled, satisfied that this blue eyed boy was their Jack.

"She's fine. You didn't hurt her. Jack I owe you an apology" said the Russian man, loosening the belts around the winter spirit's wrists "I should have know that you needed help when you became a spirit. I should have assumed that at the very least it would have been hard for you to adapt to your new life, especially given that you... passed away. I'm sorry I never tried to help you"

"North, you don't have to apologize. It's not your job to look after other spirits. I'm the one who's sorry for saying those horrible things and for stabbing you with an icicle. Are you OK?"

North touched his shoulder. Jack could see blood under the bandages.

"I'll be fine, no?" said North smiling happily.

As soon as Jack was free, he got up from the bed, trying to find Tooth. He walked towards the door, his hand on his middle, as he tried to ignore the sharp pain in his abdomen. North had obediently broken his staff while he was unconscious. He smiled and turned around, walking toward the Russian man wrapping his thin arms around North's rather large waist. The Guardian of Wonder looked surprised, but he patted the boy in the back.

"What was that for?" asked a Santa smiling.

"For everything" the winter boy said, walking towards the door again.

"She's at the medical room!" North shouted.

"I know!" said Jack, practically dragging himself from the pain.

But the pain didn't matter, because he would get to see her again, through his own blue eyes. The pain didn't matter because he would finally tell her what he had been dying to say for the last two days.

* * *

Sandy and the kids landed in front of grandma's house. Sandy smiled, put Sophie down and waved bye-bye.

"Thanks Sandy! That was cool!" said Jaime, eyes wide with excitement. "say thanks to North and Bunny too. And tell Jack to visit when he's better."

Sandy nodded and Jamie rang the bell.

"Who is it?" Amanda's voice yelled from the kitchen.

"Mooooom! It's me! And Sophie!" yelled Jamie excited. He liked to pretend that he was a big boy, but he really missed his mom while he was away.

Not two seconds passed and the door opened. A teary, ecstatic Amanda opened the door, wrapping both her kids in her arms.

"James! It's the kids! They're back!" she yelled towards the house.

"Mom, it was awesome! The Sand Man flew us here from the North Pole on a sand plane! It was amazing!" said Jamie.

"The sand man? What happened to Jack?" his mom asked.

"I don't know. They made him evil, I think the Guardians have to find a unicorn to bring him back. Dad!"

"Jamie! How...how are you here?" asked James.

"The Sand Man flew us on a plane made of sand! It was awesome! said Jamie smiling.

James gave his wife a worried look. He imagined his kid covering whatever horrors he lived with fantastic stories.

"They're here, they're safe now, that's what matters" said Amanda smiling. She knew her husband would never understand.

James gave them all a hug, and the family went inside, mom carrying Sophie, dad carrying Jamie. Sandy waved goodbye to the kids as the door closed in front of him.

* * *

**Yey! Our Jack is back!**

**The bad news is that the next chapter is the end *sniff* and I'll probably add an epilogue, but that's it.**

**Did anyone guess what happened? If not don't worry, I'll explain next chapter**


	26. Joy and certainty

**Well, the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who favorited and followed this story and to all of you who made my day with your wonderful reviews.**

**This chapter is dedicated to all of you. Enjoy the fluff**!

* * *

Jack didn't even realized that North was right behind him until he reached the medical room, where Tooth was awake, a yeti forcing her to take some medicine.

She looked completely awful. Her face was barely visible between the cuts and bruises and she was missing feathers from her head, back and arms, where skin as pale as Jack's could be seen dotted with bloody little wounds from the feathers being pulled out. But to her winter boy, she was the most beautiful sight in the whole world.

"Toothiana!" Jack wasn't sure why he yelled, but he had too many emotions in him, fueled by the increasing pain in his abdomen.

Bunny readied his boomerang, but North signaled that everything was fine. The pooka looked at the boy for a moment, finding the playful blue eyes he knew well, and he lowered his weapon. Sheila needed to be scolded for putting herself in trouble like that.

"Don't you ever try to save me again! Do you understand?! Do you have any idea of the Hell I've been through in the last two days?!" Jack continued, oblivious to Bunny.

"But Jack, they wanted to take you! I didn't know if they would hurt you, or kill you! I was scared!" she squeaked, so quickly that Jack could barely understand her. She was obviously breathing easily now.

"Exactly my point!" said her boyfriend, still mad. Do you know how I would have felt if I had..." Jack looked at the floor "killed you..."

"I know..." she said, not meeting his gaze "that's why I forgave you. I didn't want you to live your life blaming yourself."

Bunny's eyes widened in understanding as he met North's gaze.

"So that is what happened!" said North.

"The book never said a unicorn, you and Pitch said unicorn!" said Bunny.

"What are you talking about?" asked Jack.

"To bring you back, you needed compassion from a mythical creature, as pure and kind as the Gods were powerful" said North.

"And Toothie is a fairy! A fairy! How come we never thought of that?!" said Bunny laughing "we were about to go unicorn hunting! Can you imagine that?"

Both North and Bunny chuckled. Jack and Tooth just looked at each other, confused. Jack lost himself in her magenta eyes, her eyelashes batting, making his heart beat unevenly, dissipating all of his anger.

"Where the Hell were we going to find a bloody unicorn?" Bunny's laugh took Jack out of his trance.

"Bunny, I'm sorry about what I said earlier." said the winter boy.

"Nah, no worries, mate. Sorry I tried to kill you." said Bunny smiling.

Jack turned to look at North, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Well, little princess, you do have to admit that Christmas is more important than Easter" said the Guardian of Fun.

"Oi!" said Bunny getting up from the bed. North went to his side, helping him. His wound had reopened during the last battle.

The Russian man walked the Pooka out of the room, but they stopped in front of Jack.

"For the last time, snowflake. I am not a little princess, mate" said Bunny menacingly.

"I know, I'm sorry" said Jack sheepishly as North and Bunny left the room.

"You're definitely a kangaroo!" Jack yelled towards the hallway.

Jack and Tooth heard Bunny cursing and laughed.

"You tease him too much, you know?" said the fairy, smiling.

"Hey, he did try to kill me!" the winter boy said with a smile. And there they were again, those impossibly big eyes staring at him, melting him inside, attracting him to her like magnets. He didn't know how, but he was now sitting on the bed next to Tooth.

From up close he could see how hurt she really was. Not hugging her was painful. Not kissing her was torture, yet he couldn't bring himself to touch her for fear of hurting her more. She held his hand, and Jack notice for the first time how small her warm hand was compared to his. Her magenta eyes kept looking straight at his blue ones and the distance between them became unbearable. He found an untouched spot on her cheek, and he tentatively caressed it with his fingers. He had forgotten how soft she really was. She tilted her head at his touch, her other hand wrapping his, her eyes closed.

"Tooth" he whispered "open your eyes".

She obeyed smiling.

"I need you to know that... that I love you" said the winter spirit.

"I love you too" she whispered back, closing the gap between them.

Her warm smile brushed Jack's and the boy gently pulled her closer to him pressing his cold lips softly against hers. Her broken lips tasted like blood, but it didn't matter, he could smell the flower nectar emanating from her skin, her soft, sweet breath against his skin whenever they paused to breath. This kiss was careful and gentle, not passionate like their previous one, yet it was so much better. There was no uncertainty this time, no fears. They knew they belonged together now. They knew they were in love. A little big word made all the difference in the world.

Jack broke the kiss after a minute, or was it and hour? He was longing to hug her, to bury his face in his favorite spot and fill his lungs with her sweet smell. He held her gently for a long time, and she rested her head on his shoulder, until he felt her skin getting colder and pulled away, kissing the top of her head.

"Stay here and rest" he said, now that her arms were not around him, he could feel the pain in his abdomen. "I'll go and find my staff" he said, getting up from the bed "I'll be back soon."

"Jack, stay" she pleaded "please keep hugging me, the cold helps with the pain"

Jack smiled and he cuddled in the bed with her. Cold was all he could ever give her, but as it turned out, cold was all she ever needed.

**The end**.

* * *

**If we make it to 150 reviews I'll write an epilogue ;)**


	27. Epilogue

**This one goes to ObsidianLove who both ruined my epilogue by having the same brainwave as me, and who ships Cold Poison because she thinks that Rainbow Snowcone can't be passionate, heated, sexy and intimate too (apart from super fluffy)**

* * *

It had been almost two weeks since the Algae took Sophie. Jack and Tooth were sitting on a bench just outside the workshop. The fairy was looking much better, her face free from cuts and bruises, but she was still unable to walk and more importantly, fly. She was growing increasingly anxious from sitting on a bed the whole day, confined inside the medical room, so she finally convinced Jack to take her outside, despite the winter spirit's better judgement.

"I'm sure I could fly if you'd help me" she said pouting.

"Tooth... we've been through this..." he said slowly, as if he was talking to little Sophie.

"I've got it! You should take me flying!" she squeaked, a wide smile on her face.

Her boyfriend chuckled.

"My flying is too cold and hap hazardous for you right now. Besides, you're a control freak, I highly doubt you would enjoy it." he said with a toothy smile.

"I'll enjoy anything with you" she said.

The winter boy turned a bright shade of blue that made him look like a horror movie. She smiled back, leaning forward and kissing him softly on the lips.

When they parted, she wrapped her arm around his and laid her head on his shoulder. They stayed in a comfortable silence for a while, Jack lost in his own thoughts.

"I never apologized to you..." he said, not meeting Tooth's gaze.

"There's nothing to apologize for. Whatever you said, you were right. I did fail you" she said, her voice full of sadness.

"No you didn't! I was just being a jerk. I want you to know that I don't blame you at all" he said, looking at her this time. "I'm also sorry about... you know... Ania. I kinda feel like I cheated on you."

"Don't be silly, Jack! You were not yourself. Besides, I know you don't like naughty girls" she said, her magenta eyes piercing his in the most alluring way.

He wrapped his arms around her, pressing her tight against his body, resuming that urgent kiss weeks ago, when Jack lost his staff and fell. He did learn a thing or two with Ania, and his cold tongue on hers was making her senses blurry. She bit his lower lip, and horrified by what she had done, she pulled away, breaking the kiss.

"Maybe I do like naughty girls after all" he said, smiling as she turned crimson red, eyes fixed on the floor. He hugged her, kissing the top of her head, suppressing a laugh.

Obviously lost in her own thoughts, Tooth jerked away, smiling excited.

"OK, let's do it!" she said.

Jack's eyes were like saucers as he swallowed loudly.

"W-what?!" he managed to mumble.

It's not like he had never given it a though, but never in his wildest dreams Tooth would just randomly offer it like that, and for some reason it made him really nervous.

"Flying! I want to try flying!" she squeaked.

Jack looked like a horror movie again.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"Nothing" he said, holding her hands "OK, I've got you. Give it a try!"

The smiling fairy flapped her wings, lifting herself up, flying slightly taller than her boyfriend.

"You're doing great, Toothie!" he said, slowly walking backwards.

But a sudden sharp pain on Tooth's broken wing forced her to stop, landing on the floor, on top of Jack.

"I'm sorry, are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm great!" he replied, referring to that particular point in time when she was in his arms on top of him. He kissed her again. He was definitely going to be late for dinner with Amanda and the kids, and he wasn't even sorry.

* * *

It felt extremely weird knocking on the door after 300 years of just sneaking through windows, but giving that he had been invited, he thought he should enter through the front door.

Amanda opened the door, hugging him warmly. Her hug felt so similar to Jamie's, warming him up inside. She was an adult and she believed in him, and she was his family, Abigail's blood running through her veins. It made Jack feel closer to his little sister once more.

"Hi Jack, come on in!" she said, pointing towards the dinning room, where the kids were already eating.

"Sorry I'm late" said the winter spirit.

"It's OK. We understand you're busy" said Mrs Bennett kindly.

'Busy. Yeah, let's go with that' thought Jack, smiling to himself.

"Uncle Jack! You came!" said Jamie excited and Jack smiled. It will take a long time to get use to being someone's uncle.

During dinner, Amanda asked a million questions about how he became a spirit and Jack reluctantly told her the story of his sister and the lake. He didn't want to mention his dead in front of Jamie, so he let her fill in the blanks.

Then she asked about the Guardians.

"Well, there's me, of course. And North, which is Santa's real name, he's sort of our leader..."

"And he's got the Naughty and Nice lists tattooed on his arms! And he's Russian, and he's a sword fighter!" said Jamie excited. Jack chuckled.

"That's right, Jamie. Then there's Sandy, the Sand Man. He's completely made out of his dream sand and he doesn't talk, he makes little sand images over his head..."

"And he fights with sand whips, and he can make anything he wants with his sand!"

"Yes he can" Jack was grinning "then there's Bunny. The Easter Bunny. Huge Australian bloke who happens to be a rabbit."

"And he's sooo cool! He comes all the time to put Sophie to sleep!" said Jamie again.

"Bunny! Hop, hop!" squeaked Sophie.

"No wonder she doesn't protest when it's bed time!"

"He almost... He risked himself rescuing Sophie." said Jack, and Amanda felt a surge of love and gratitude.

"Please thank him for me" she said.

"And then there's Jack's girlfriend..." said Jaime mischievously.

Jack adjusted his hoodie, suddenly self conscious of the hickey hiding underneath.

"And there's the Tooth Fairy" said Jack.

"Wait a minute! I think I remember once, when I was a little kid... I think I saw her! A little green bird with fairy wings!" said Amanda excited, although she kept wondering how could a tiny bird leave behind such a large hickey.

"You saw a mini fairy! Tooth sends them to collect the teeth!" said Jaime, excited that his mom also had some sort of memory of the Guardians.

"And, she really is my girlfriend" said Jack "Don't worry, the real Tooth Fairy is human size" Jack chuckled, he could almost see Amanda's brain working.

They talked and they laughed and Jack watched home videos of Jamie and Sophie until both kids collapsed on the couch.

For 300 years Jack was alone, and now suddenly he had friends, he had believers, he had a family -actually two families- and he had found love. This was all his dreams come true and so much more.

* * *

***update* the sequel is out! It's called 'Two little big words: Fear and Chaos' **

**I feel a sequel coming (provided I can think of something cool) what do you think? If you'd like a sequel, I need a volunteer (or many) who has read the books to tell me about Pitch's powers and the bad things he's done in the past to get some ideas. I feel like Pitch has to be the bad guy this time around. There'll be trouble in paradise for Rainbow Snowcone and an OC love interest for Bunny (don't worry, I'm not creating another Guardian, I'm using a "real Myth" MagicGold34**


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